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The Commercial - and now general space travel - Thread (No Politics Allowed)

vbrad26
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I want to have a thread where we can talk about things relating (but not limited) to SpaceX, Blue Origin, ULA, Dynetics, Virgin, Boeing etc....or really just news of up and coming spaceflight in general.

With the second crewed SpaceX mission and a 3rd on the way, as well as finally having a successful landing of their Starship rocket, and not to mention winning the NASA contract (assuming those who protested don't get that changed) they seem to be clearly at the top and leading this new age "space race". Also looking forward to seeing Musk on SNL.
But just today, Bezos announced that the will be launching a crewed suborbital flight of their New Shepard rocket/capsule. I honestly didn't know they were this close. I feel like SpaceX gets all the press which seems to make everyone else fly under the radar (or over ::rimshot::) which is another reason I wanted to make this thread.

I don't know about you all but I am super stoked for the near future of space travel.
There is just so much happening so fast right now it seems that I thought this would be a good spot to dump any and all info for those of us who are interested.
 
Larry S
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Seems like Bezos and Branson are left in the dust yet they persist.
 
Darlinboy
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Good idea! A lot going on to be sure. I watch it all with interest. And with my fingers crossed there will be commercial flights (at a non-billionaire fare) during my lifetime.

And yes, I have my watch picked out already for that flight. It is, of course, NASA-certified. 😀
 
vbrad26
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Darlinboy Darlinboy
Good idea! A lot going on to be sure. I watch it all with interest. And with my fingers crossed there will be commercial flights (at a non-billionaire fare) during my lifetime.

And yes, I have my watch picked out already for that flight. It is, of course, NASA-certified. 😀

I was just talking about this with my wife the other day. We are both relatively young (early 30's) and are excited about the fact that there could be a real potential that just normal every day people could soon be blasted off into space. I mean it is happening now. And has happened in the past. The only thing that will need to come back down to earth (pun somewhat intended) and make it a true reality would be the price, so that way an "average Joe" could enjoy probably one of the coolest experiences of their lifetime.
 
Foo2rama
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We should also note China sent its first astronauts to their own space station this week.
 
Walrus
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Bezos and virgin galactic are well behind Tesla but Boeing has some things going on and this AM I heard a few other companies are entering the space. Tesla had had its issues but they have been having some amazing successes as we have all seen. Amazing stuff. Did we ever hear who paid the 25 million to go up with bezos and his brother
 
SpeedyPhill
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All I can add wristwatch-wise is the fact that several time piece collectors put personal wristwatches in the private "science" packages flown on the VTVL New Shepard testflight missions...
 
Screwbacks
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did anybody notice what watch/es the crew and passengers (branson) are wearing?😉😁
 
eugeneandresson
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Screwbacks Screwbacks
did anybody notice what watch/es the crew and passengers (branson) are wearing?😉😁

I believe it’s a new hush-hush watch by Omega, that hasnt been released officially, and will only be given to Astronauts that fly Virgin.

It’s apparently called the Omega Virginmaster.

::rimshot::

(cue to show myself out)
 
Omegafanman
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eugeneandresson eugeneandresson
I believe it’s a new hush-hush watch by Omega, that hasnt been released officially, and will only be given to Astronauts that fly Virgin.

It’s apparently called the Omega Virginmaster.

::rimshot::

(cue to show myself out)

I did have a play to find any watch clues .... Virgin on the ridiculous at times.

https://omegaforums.net/threads/virgin-galactic-unity-22-launch.133991/#post-1819212

Also not to pour cold water on it but as a commercial venture from the risk report some sort of failure / crew loss is considered inevitable. Odds still very much in your favour but a bit like Concorde when you have a relatively low number of aircraft and flights would it bounce back from such an incident.
 
Zapatta
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I was about to go to space but my wife saw what Mila Kunis did to Ashton Kutcher, so its mission abort! 😎
 
Walrus
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So I’m watching bits of bezos preparing. Full coverage begins at 8:30am. So we have a teenager and someone 80 year old plus going up. Now if you go into space as a teenager, where do you go from there? How to you top that? I’m watching Bloomberg now they are talking about it.
 
duc
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If the goal is competition, I am for it. However, it does seem like Space-X is far ahead. Other than personal aggrandizement, what was being demonstrated by Bezos that Musk hasn't already done to the point of it being put into official service?

If Bezos costs are lower, payload to thrust higher or overall payload capacity is higher, fine. Otherwise, what is Bezos bringing to the party?
 
The Father
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62 miles to space.
62 miles separates life on Earth and well.... no life on earth.
When you take into account all the things that had to go right for life on Earth it does make me ponder we are in fact alone.
 
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