One More Step Towards Commercial Aviation Into Space

Rocket illustration (SpaceX)

JAKARTA - Currently, private companies are starting to flock to present tour packages to outer space. Given that travel to space is no longer the property of a single state space agency or agency.

Several companies such as Virgin Galactik, SpaceX to Blue Origin are competing to present their spacecraft to send humans outside Earth.

So far SpaceX has succeeded in sending NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). They even routinely send their supplies and satellites into space.

Other companies such as Virgin Galactic also continue to try to fly their spacecraft. Even though the startup owned by billionaire Richard Branson has not been able to fly into space, the Virgin Galactic aircraft has successfully aired on the surface of the Earth's atmosphere.

Where is the plan, the Virgin Galactic spacecraft will provide a passenger experience with zero gravity in outer space. Before returning to air to earth, where the passengers have undergone a flight like an astronaut.

Technical Constraints

So far, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic have failed several times to realize their ambition to develop commercial space travel. Previously, SpaceX's Starship SN8 rocket exploded when it failed to land.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unity spacecraft was forced to cancel its flight to penetrate outer space, after taking off from the Quadjet cargo plane carrying it. Despite the failure, the spacecraft was successfully airborne and returned safely to land.

"The ignition sequence for the rocket motor is incomplete. The vehicle and crew are in very good condition. We have several motorbikes ready at Spaceport America. We will double check the vehicle and get back to flying soon," said Virgin Galactic, quoted by CNN International, Tuesday 15 December.

However, this is an important note for Virgin Galactic, where they must rebuild the trust to make space travelers tolerant of these kinds of risks.

Reportedly, there are currently 600 customers who have paid US $ 250,000 or the equivalent of Rp3.5 billion to be able to do space tourism in one go. However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plan had to be postponed, especially because it failed to launch this trial.

Previously, the prototype rocket belonging to SpaceX, Starship Series 8 (SN8) exploded, briefly failed to land and hit the ground in its first test in Texas, Wednesday, December 9 local time. Despite these failures, the two startup companies are still trying to develop their airlines for the future.

Thread: our CEO, Michael Colglazier, on today's flight test. Today's flight landed beautifully, with pilots, planes, and spaceship safe, secure, and in excellent shape - the foundation of every successful mission! Our flight today did not reach space as we had been planning. pic.twitter.com/pqfUAtp6UH

- Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 12, 2020

Airlines Flying to Space

Apart from SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, there are a number of airlines into space that are developing their own spacecraft. Some of them are Rocket Lab and Jeff Besoz's Blue Origin.

- Rocket Lab

The company, which is owned by Peter Beck, took the initiative to build an airline into space at a cost-effective way. They develop their commercial rockets with a smaller trajectory than typical rocket launches.

Although it has not succeeded in sending humans into space. Rocket Lab targets its rocket launch mission at the end of 2020.

- Blue Origin

Besides Elon Musk, billionaire and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is also involved in developing space travel. He also founded the Blue Origin airline.

Uniquely, this aircraft is designed to reach outer space for just 11 minutes. To support this, Bezos often sells Amazon stock as much as US $ 1 billion per year to fund Blue Origin.

In 2016, Blue Origin successfully tested their capsule and rocket aircraft, the New Shepard. Hopefully, in the near future New Shepard will be able to carry passengers into space.

Things You Need to Know Before Going to Space

Space flight is considered a fairly dangerous activity. Some of the dangers of space flight and the space environment that will be felt include G-force, radiation, vibrations, and microgravity.

To that end, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also focuses on public safety and protection. As a result, there are minimum requirements relating to medical health and training for space travelers, as well as informed consent and discharge of responsibility for protecting space airlines.

So, potential space tourists must take a big risk if they want to do space tourism. Meanwhile, the FAA recommends that space flight participants receive medical consultation within 12 months of the flight from a trained doctor.

Since this is not a legal requirement, it is ultimately up to the launch airline to determine the fit-to-fly criteria and the "no-go" criteria for the pre-existing conditions. Not only that, the FAA also stipulates requirements for tourists who want to travel, must be 18 years and over.