Space Tourism – Spaceflight Now

Virgin Galactic stages second piloted spaceflight

February 22, 2019

Two test pilots and their instructor flew Virgin Galactic’s winged spaceplane out of the discernible atmosphere Friday for the second time in nine weeks, a successful sub-orbital flight that moves Richard Branson’s company one step closer to its goal of launching paying passengers and payloads on brief forays into the weightlessness of space.

New Shepard launches NASA experiments to space, aims for human flights this year

January 23, 2019

Blue Origin, the commercial space company founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, launched a package of NASA experiments to the edge of space Wednesday from West Texas with a suborbital New Shepard booster, then successfully recovered the reusable rocket and space capsule a few minutes later.

Blue Origin plans New Shepard launch Wednesday

January 19, 2019

Blue Origin plans to launch its single stage New Shepard suborbital booster Wednesday as the commercial space company moves closer to flying people to the edge of space.

Blue Origin scrubs suborbital launch attempt, delays flight to early 2019

December 18, 2018

Blue Origin scrubbed the planned launch Tuesday of the company’s suborbital New Shepard booster from West Texas due to a “ground infrastructure issue,” and later said the flight would be pushed back to early 2019.

Video and photo highlights of Virgin Galactic’s historic SpaceShipTwo test flight

December 14, 2018

Check out video highlights released by Virgin Galactic of Thursday’s test flight by the company’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane to an altitude of 271,000 feet, above a boundary recognized by the U.S. government as the edge of space.

Virgin Galactic accomplishes milestone test flight to the edge of space

December 13, 2018

With two veteran test pilots at the controls, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane climbed to the edge of space for the first time Thursday in a major achievement for Richard Branson’s long-sought ambition to begin regular commercial hops with space tourists, and the first piloted flight by a U.S. vehicle above an altitude of 50 miles since the last space shuttle mission in 2011.

Virgin Galactic’s rocket plane climbs closer to space

July 27, 2018

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, built to eventually carry commercial passengers to the edge of space, accomplished another powered test flight into the rarefied upper atmosphere Thursday with two pilots on-board.

Blue Origin performs high-altitude test of crew escape motor

July 18, 2018

Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard booster launched Wednesday on an uncrewed test flight, sending a capsule on a brief jaunt into space over West Texas to demonstrate a key safety feature for space tourists and scientists riding on the company’s future rockets.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo completes second powered test flight

May 30, 2018

Helmed by two test pilots, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane set new altitude and speed records for the company’s test program Tuesday during a powered flight over California’s Mojave Desert.

Video: Blue Origin flies New Shepard rocket for eighth time

April 29, 2018

Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster, topped with a capsule carrying a dummy dubbed Mannequin Skywalker, took off Sunday from the company’s sprawling test site in West Texas on a 10-minute trip to the edge of space and back.