Private space travel
As a private space flights are in the space designated to be entrusted or carried out by non-governmental organizations. Today, many commercial transportation companies around the world provide space launch services for private and government customers.
History of unmanned private space travel
During the early years of spaceflight, only states had the resources to develop, build, and operate spacecraft. Both the US and Soviet space travel used military pilots as astronauts or cosmonauts. At this stage, space launches were not available to commercial companies and no private organization was able to offer space launches. Later on, private organizations were able to book, buy and even execute space launches themselves. This was the beginning of private space travel.
In 2005 there were a total of 18 commercial providers and 37 non-commercial opportunities for transportation services to space.
United States
A US law passed in 1962 paved the way for commercial consortia to own and operate privately owned satellites, although at the time they were still being launched into space by state rockets.
Until the Challenger disaster in 1986, it was the policy of the United States that NASA should be the supplier of space transportation capacity. Initially, NASA subsidized satellite launches with the intention of promoting the shuttle service on a long-term basis.
On October 30, 1984, US President Ronald Reagan signed the Commercial Space Launch Act . This law made it easier for private companies to access space and space technology and allowed American industry to operate rockets and launch sites without relying on NASA.
On November 5, 1990, President George HW Bush signed the Launch Services Purchase Act .
In 1996, the US Air Force selected Lockheed Martin and Boeing as service providers for launch orders as part of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV) program . The two companies operated the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets for this purpose .
In 1997, for the first time, more commercial than government-commissioned rocket launches were carried out from the launch sites in Florida.
In December 2004, US President George W. Bush signed a bill to encourage the development of a commercial US space industry.
Due to weak demand for EELV launches, Lockheed Martin and Boeing formed the United Launch Alliance joint venture in 2005 to jointly operate the launch service for the American government. This monopoly led to a sharp rise in the start-up costs for US government contracts until the 2010s, which was only stopped by competition from the new private company SpaceX .
On January 18, 2006, NASA announced an opportunity for commercial companies to conduct orbital transportation. NASA planned to invest more than $ 500 million by 2010 to operate the transport to the International Space Station . This was more of a challenge in that it required precision and rendezvous skills with another spacecraft.
On August 18, 2006, NASA announced that SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler would be the two winners of Phase I of the COTS program.
The successful premiere for the SpaceX company took place on May 22, 2012: As part of the mission, which lasted until May 31, the first flight of a Dragon spaceship to the ISS took place. The spaceship transported 520 kg of cargo to the ISS and landed back on earth with over 600 kg of equipment that was no longer needed.
Europe
On March 26, 1980, the French space agency CNES created Arianespace , a partially privately owned space company, with the participation of the companies that produce the Ariane rockets . Arianespace buys and markets the Ariane rocket family . The missiles are being developed on behalf of the European Space Agency under the leadership of CNES. In 1995, Arianespace launched its 100th satellite, and in 1997, Arianespace had its 100th rocket launch.
Russia
One of the first Russian private space projects was the Europe America 500 space project in 1992 .
In 1994, the Russian state sold shares in its largest space company, RKK Energija, to private investors.
International Launch Services has been marketing the Proton rocket from Russian manufacturer GKNPZ Khrunichev since 1995 , while the Soyuz rocket is marketed through Starsem . Energia is building the Soyuz rocket and owns the majority in the Sea Launch project , which operates the Ukrainian Zenit rocket .
International consortia
In 2003 Arianespace, Boeing Launch Services, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries formed the Launch Services Alliance .
History of manned private space travel
The first private individuals who financed their space flight themselves flew as space tourists with space shuttle flights or the Russian Soyuz rockets to the Mir space station or the ISS . All individuals who flew into space before Dennis Tito had received support from their national governments, such as US Congressman Bill Nelson , who flew the Columbia in January 1986 , and the Japanese television reporter Toyohiro Akiyama , who flew to the Mir space station in 1990 .
The Ansari X-Prize was donated to promote private investment in the development of space technologies. On June 21, 2004 the test flight of SpaceShipOne , a competitor for the X-Prize, took place. This was the first manned space flight in a privately developed and operated spacecraft.
Following this event, Richard Branson , owner of Virgin, and Burt Rutan , developer of SpaceShipOne, announced on September 27, 2004 that Virgin Galactic has licensed the technology and will use it within the next 2.5 to 3 years. A fleet of five vehicles is being built and flights will be offered at $ 200,000, although Branson said he plans to use his money to develop cheaper flights.
On July 12, 2006, Bigelow Aerospace launched Genesis 1 , a small-scale test model of an orbital, deployable space station. Genesis 2 was launched on June 28, 2007, and there are plans for additional prototypes in preparation for the BA 330 deployable space station .
In October 2014, the SpaceShipTwo project had a fatal accident with the VSS Enterprise aircraft . Scaled Composites developed the SpaceShipTwo on behalf of Virgin Galactic .
See also
Web links
- Climbing a Commercial Stairway to Space: A Plausible Timeline? RLV News, February 2, 2009, accessed June 5, 2012 .
- The new possibilities of New Space: Why the future of space travel is increasingly also private space travel OHB website, accessed on August 1, 2018
- “Space 4.O” - Space before a new era ESA website, November 16, 2016
Individual evidence
- ^ Federal Aviation Administration: Commercial Space Transportation: 2005 Year In Review. (PDF; 430 kB) Retrieved September 23, 2008 .
- ^ US Congress: Setting Space Transportation Policy for the 1990s. (PDF; 6 MB) Archived from the original on June 27, 2009 ; Retrieved September 22, 2008 .
- ^ Statement on Signing the Commercial Space Launch Act. Retrieved September 22, 2008 .
- ↑ Sec 2465d - Requirement to procure commercial launch services. In: law.justia.com. Retrieved September 22, 2008 .
- ↑ United States National Academy of Sciences: Streamlining Space Launch Range Safety - Executive Summary. Retrieved September 22, 2008 .
- ↑ House Approves HR 3752, The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, accessed September 23, 2008 (press release).
- ↑ spaceref.com: Boeing, Lockheed Martin to Form Launch Services Joint Venture. Retrieved September 22, 2008 .
- ↑ spaceref.com: NASA Seeks Proposals for Crew and Cargo Transportation to Orbit. Retrieved September 22, 2008 .
- ↑ NASA: NASA Invests in Private Sector Space Flight with SpaceX, Rocketplane-Kistler. Retrieved September 23, 2008 .
- ↑ COTS-2 Mission Press Kit. (PDF; 6 MB) SpaceX, accessed on May 19, 2012 (English).
- ^ Arianespace: Milestones. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008 ; Retrieved September 22, 2008 .
- ^ Sebastian Fischer: "SpaceShipTwo" accident: Crash of a prestige project. In: Spiegel online. Retrieved November 1, 2014 .