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Its shares peaked at almost $60 following FAA approval of passenger travel in June 2021.īlue Origin is privately owned, with Inc (AMZN.O) founder Bezos previously indicating he would sell around $1 billion in Amazon stock annually to fund the venture. Typical of Branson's ventures, Virgin Galactic is publicly funded. The SpaceX missions are expected to last three to four days from launch to splashdown.

Again, those on board experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the planet before returning to Earth. Virgin Galactic boasts a total flight time of around 90 minutes from take-off to landing, including about 4 minutes of microgravity.īlue Origin's capsule suborbital flight is around 10 minutes after separation. The SpaceX Dragon capsule is capable of carrying up to seven people.

Virgin Galactic's spaceplane can hold six people: two crew and four passengers.īlue Origin's craft can take six passengers and flies autonomously. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule sits atop a reusable Falcon 9 rocket, which it uses to reach orbit.

Space pioneer windows#

It features six observation windows - the most ever in a space vehicle. The rocket section flies itself back to the launchpad, while the pressurized capsule falls back to Earth under parachutes. The spaceplane then glides back to land on a runway.īlue Origin's New Shepard rocket-and-capsule combo blasts off directly into suborbital space before separating. Virgin Galactic's reusable SpaceShipTwo system will see its VSS Unity spaceplane hoisted by a large, twin-fuselage carrier jet to 50,000 feet (15,250 m), before it separates and rockets straight up through the top of the atmosphere, about 55 miles (88 km) high. Musk has also said SpaceX will fly Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa around the moon with its forthcoming Starship rocket in 2023. Musk's SpaceX has already sent astronauts and cargo payloads to the International Space Station, and the company has plans to launch an all-civilian crew into orbit in September. That passenger will be joined by Bezos, his brother, Mark, and Wally Funk, one of 13 women who passed NASA's astronaut training program in the 1960s and will now become the oldest person to travel in space, at age 82. Blue has not divulged its long-term pricing structure.Īn as-yet unidentified person secured one of the seats on Blue's first suborbital mission, slated for July 20, with a $28 million auction bid.

Reuters reported in 2018 that Bezos' Blue Origin was planning to charge passengers at least $200,000 for a ride, based on an appraisal of Branson's rival plans and other considerations, though its thinking may have changed. Branson himself is due to occupy one of six seats aboard his company's first fully crewed test flight to space on Sunday. It expects to begin regular commercial services in 2022 and eventually hopes to slash the ticket price to around $40,000.

Space pioneer for free#

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Registerīranson, Bezos and Musk have been investing billions of dollars in their space companies, each promising to ferry paying customers on rides to space - and it will cost a hefty fee to book a seat.īranson's Virgin Galactic (SPCE.N) has said it has amassed more than 600 reservations already, priced around $250,000 a ticket.