space tourism are we one step closer

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Successful rocket test takes virgin galactic a supersonic step closer to putting tourists in space.

The race to put tourists into space seems to be a glacially slow one most of the time, and then BOOM – it suddenly takes a supersonic leap forward.

That’s the case with Richard Branson’s long-delayed Virgin Galactic project, which on Thursday completed rocket-powered test flight at 2.47 times the speed of sound.

Carried up to an altitude of 46,500 feet over the Mojave Desert in California , Virgin’s VSS Unity was released from its mother ship before blasting into the stratosphere.

Related article First luxury hotel in space announced

With rockets blazing for 42 seconds, it then entered a near-vertical climb to 170,800 feet, approximately halfway to the edge of space.

The ship then glided back down to Earth, making a successful landing at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

“It was a thrill from start to finish,” said David Mackay, who co-piloted Unity alongside Mike “Sooch” Masucci. “Unity’s rocket motor performed magnificently again and Sooch pulled off a smooth landing.”

Altitude record

The third rocket-powered outing in less than four months was hailed as the most successful yet for the project, which eventually aims to carry passengers and commercial payloads into space.

It was the first to reach the mesosphere, which Virgin Galactic describes as an “under-studied atmospheric layer” because it’s beyond the range of balloon flight.

“This was a new altitude record for both of us in the cockpit, not to mention our mannequin in the back, and the views of Earth from the black sky were magnificent,” Mackay added.

Last year, George Whitesides, the CEO of Virgin Galactic, said it was on track to begin commercial passenger space flights by the end of 2018.

Related article Space travel: Explore the world with these amazing NASA images

Branson also predicted it would be up and running by December in an interview released on the eve of the latest test .

The billionaire has been making claims of imminent launch dates since 2013, but setbacks including a fatal accident in 2014 have stretched the time line.

If Virgin Galactic gets up and running, passengers paying north of $250,000 will experience a two-and-a-half-hour flight to the edge of space. The flight will culminate with several minutes of weightlessness during which they’ll be able to float from their seats.

While the ticket price will put it out reach for most people, it’ll still come cheaper than a prolonged sojourn in space, which can cost many millions of dollars .

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Articles on Space tourism

Displaying 1 - 20 of 44 articles.

South African hominin fossils were sent into space and scientists are enraged

Dipuo Winnie Kgotleng , University of Johannesburg and Robyn Pickering , University of Cape Town

Sex in space: why it’s worrying that the space tourism sector hasn’t considered the consequences

David Cullen , Cranfield University

Astro-tourism − chasing eclipses, meteor showers and elusive dark skies from Earth

Vahe Peroomian , USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Virgin Galactic’s use of the ‘Overview Effect’ to promote space tourism is a terrible irony

Ariane Moore , University of Tasmania

How can we make the space sector more sustainable?

Nonthapat Pulsiri , TBS Education and Victor Dos Santos Paulino , TBS Education

This course takes college students out of this world – and teaches them what it takes to become space pioneers

Joshua D. Ambrosius , University of Dayton

Axiom launch: why commercial space travel could be another giant leap for air pollution

Eloise Marais , UCL

What happens when someone dies in space? Space tourism brings new legal and moral issues

Christopher Newman , Northumbria University, Newcastle and Nick Caplan , Northumbria University, Newcastle

Death in space: here’s what would happen to our bodies

Tim Thompson , Teesside University

From poo politics to rubbish disposal: 5 big questions about the International Space Station becoming a movie set

Alice Gorman , Flinders University

SpaceX Inspiration4 mission sent 4 people with minimal training into orbit – and brought space tourism closer to reality

Wendy Whitman Cobb , Air University

Keen to sign up for space tourism? Here are 6 things to consider (besides the price tag)

Steven Freeland , Western Sydney University

Space tourism: rockets emit 100 times more CO₂ per passenger than flights – imagine a whole industry

Virgin Galactic: space tourism takes off with Branson’s inaugural flight

Louis Brennan , Trinity College Dublin

Branson vs Bezos: as the billionaires get ready to blast into space, who’s got the better plan?

Chris James , The University of Queensland

Want to become a space tourist? You finally can — if you have $250,000 and a will to sign your life away

Cassandra Steer , Australian National University

Space tourism is here – 20 years after the first stellar tourist, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin plans to send civilians to space

Space tourism – 20 years in the making – is finally ready for launch

Apollo landers, Neil Armstrong’s bootprint and other human artifacts on Moon officially protected by new US law

Michelle L.D. Hanlon , University of Mississippi

The International Space Station at 20 offers hope and a template for future cooperation

Related topics.

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• Virgin Galactic

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On Tech: A.I.

Space tourism isn’t just joyriding.

Having rich guys like Jeff Bezos in orbit can make space travel routine and help all of us dream big.

By Shira Ovide

Maybe you’ve wondered as I have: Is there a point to rocketing rich guys like Jeff Bezos and the “Star Trek” actor William Shatner into space?

Wendy Whitman Cobb, an Air Force political scientist for space, says yes. Our conversation challenged my thinking about space projects, like those from Bezos and Elon Musk, that imagine a future away from Earth.

If you screamed “ MIDLIFE CRISIS ” when Bezos touched space last year or asked why Musk’s SpaceX company has attracted so much attention , today’s newsletter is for you.

Whitman Cobb, who has a Ph.D. in political science, said that tourist jaunts were a first step to transform space travel from outlandish to routine. And she believes that amateurs in orbit are a proving ground for worthy ambitions — including settling Mars, as Musk imagines , or colonizing space to support more people and industry than is possible on Earth, as Bezos aspires to .

To me, those sound like the escapist fantasies of billionaires. But Whitman Cobb’s optimism is a useful counterpoint to this newsletter’s regular warnings that technology is not a magical fix to our problems . Whitman Cobb agrees, but also said that technology had sometimes done magical things in space exploration.

To rewind the past decade, corporations such as SpaceX, Bezos’ Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and the New Zealand-based start-up Rocket Lab have tried to become bigger players in spaceflight . Companies have always worked with governments on space travel, but now they’re more involved in carrying astronauts, enthusiasts, satellites and cargo to space.

There is debate about the appropriate role of governments versus corporations in space, but Whitman Cobb believes those companies have made rote space tasks cheaper and easier. That frees up NASA to dream big on projects such as pursuing moon colonies and exploring deep space.

SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have also led space pleasure cruises. Those are joyrides for a tiny few, but Whitman Cobb said that they helped hone the safety of space travel and generated enthusiasm for searching beyond our planet.

“The more ‘normal’ people we see fly into space, more of the public will see this as possible and be excited by it,” she told me. “That public opinion is key to a lot of things that these companies as well as the U.S. government is doing in space.”

(Whitman Cobb said that these views were hers, and not that of the U.S. government, which employs her. She also said that she didn’t receive funding from commercial space companies.)

The ultimate goal, though, goes far beyond tourism. Musk and Bezos imagine moving people or polluting industries into space or creating a Mars civilization. I worry that is a pretext to ignore problems on Earth.

Whitman Cobb understood why I asked if those were reckless delusions, but she also doesn’t want us to lose sight of the potential benefits from dreaming. The history of space exploration, she said, is of kooky and not necessarily high-minded visions becoming doable and helpful.

The U.S. missions to the moon in the 1960s were driven by a desire to prove American superiority over the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, nationalist space missions helped spur the development of ever-smaller electronics that we use every day, improved health technology and even gave us memory foam . The past decade’s boom in commercial spaceflight has lowered the cost of space access and enabled novel ideas like small-scale satellites to map the Earth from above it.

Whitman Cobb said that the advanced technology that commercial space companies developed for spaceflight could likewise trickle down to other areas that help us.

A self-described space geek, she also said that the awe of space was a worthy goal. “It also scratches an itch, so to speak, of humanity’s longing to explore, to discover, and to understand the world around us,” she said.

I asked Whitman Cobb if she would want to live on Mars. “Absolutely,” she replied. “Maybe not forever.”

I’m not shedding all my doubts about rocket tourism or billionaires’ space fantasies. When corporations play a large role in space, they could hoard inventions rather than have them benefit the public. Space tourism also hurts the environment , and it’s not clear how much space travel and commerce is worthwhile. We know that technologies, even the helpful ones, have downsides.

Whitman Cobb wants us to have that skepticism alongside excitement. The history of space travel, she said, shows that selfish dreams can benefit all of us.

Before we go …

More Earthbound Musk news: He has gotten into hot water for his tweets. Recently, Musk also bought a big chunk of Twitter’s stock. No one quite knows what he’s doing , my colleagues Mike Isaac and Lauren Hirsch report. On Tuesday, Twitter said that Musk would join the company’s board of directors .

What does an altruist do with a cryptocurrency fortune? Sam Bankman-Fried, a co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is one of the world’s richest people and a believer in using scientific reasoning to do the most good. Bloomberg News tells us about the 30-year-old Bankman-Fried and asks: “Should someone who wants to save the world first amass as much money and power as possible, or will the pursuit corrupt him along the way?” (A subscription may be required.)

Related: Ezra Klein, my colleague in Times Opinion, interviewed Dan Olson, a video essayist who warns about the dangers of crypto ideology and culture.

How to recycle your gadgets properly: It’s not unusual for the batteries in electronics to start fires in landfills and recycling centers. The Washington Post explains how to dispose of your gadgets and batteries safely . (A subscription may be required.)

Hugs to this

Enjoy breakfast with these piglets, Pickle, Winnie and Domino .

We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else you’d like us to explore. You can reach us at [email protected].

If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here . You can also read past On Tech columns .

Shira Ovide writes the On Tech newsletter, a guide to how technology is reshaping our lives and world. More about Shira Ovide

What’s Up in Space and Astronomy

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Never miss an eclipse, a meteor shower, a rocket launch or any other 2024 event  that’s out of this world with  our space and astronomy calendar .

Scientists working with NASA’s Perseverance rover state emphatically that they are not claiming to have discovered life on Mars. But they are very excited about what they found on this rock .

When a NASA spacecraft passes over Shackleton Crater on the moon and peers in, it sees a sea of blackness and nothing more. Take a look at the moon’s most shadowy places .

With the Falcon 9 rocket set to fly again and testing of the Starliner capsule progressing, NASA is seeking to turn the page  on a brief, troubled chapter in orbit.

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Is Pluto a planet? And what is a planet, anyway? Test your knowledge here .

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Space Tourism Could Be a Reality in 2018

Two space-faring companies run by billionaire entrepreneurs—Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin—just hit significant milestones, meaning we’re closer than ever to vacationing beyond this planet. In early April, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo successfully completed a long-awaited first powered test flight. And on April 29, Blue Origin made another successful test launch of its New Shepard rocket, this one equipped with a crash-test dummy and a handful of scientific experiments. So, are we about to start planning trips to space?

“This is really happening,” says Christian Davenport, whose new book The Space Barons lays out how we got to this crucial moment in history. Both Bezos and Branson aim to bring paying customers into space by the end of this year.

“They’ve invested massive amounts of their own fortunes, even though it’s a risky gamble,” says Davenport, who covers the space industry for the Washington Post . “They say the quickest way to become a millionaire in space is to start out as a billionaire.”

The truth is, going to space is rare. Only about 560 people have ever done it, but those astronauts who have universally describe the experience as transformative. “What Branson and Bezos want to do is make it easier for more people to see the curvature of the earth, see the blackness of space, and see the thin blue-greenish hue of the atmosphere and the land below without any boundary lines,” says Davenport.

Still, despite the strides made this spring, some skepticism is warranted. There’s been talk about space tourism for decades and Virgin Galactic, in particular, has had a series of delays and one fatality, during a failed test flight in 2014. “Richard Branson has been promising and promising that space tourism flights were right around the corner,” says Davenport. “But now it does seem like he’s finally very close.”

The Virgin Galactic experience will begin (and end) at futuristic Spaceport America, whose concrete-and-glass domes rise from the desert in rural New Mexico. Passengers will board SpaceShipTwo, a sleek spaceplane with room for six passengers that begins each flight tethered beneath a twin-fuselage mothership called White Knight Two. The larger aircraft takes off from a runway and climbs to a cruising altitude of about 35,000 feet. Then SpaceShipTwo detaches from the mothership, lights its rocket engines, and shoots off toward space at supersonic speed. Passengers enjoy several minutes of zero-gravity sightseeing before strapping back in, making the 62-mile descent, and landing. So far, about 700 people have signed up, paying between $200,000 and $250,000 per ticket.

In contrast, Blue Origin passengers get an honest-to-goodness astronaut experience at the company’s West Texas launch site. Up to six passengers can buckle in to the reclining seats inside the passenger capsule of the New Shepard rocket, which will carry them past the Karman line, the official edge of space, 62 miles up. Then, the capsule will separate from the booster, and passengers will have the chance to float around and view the earth through extra-large windows. After four minutes of weightlessness, they strap back into their seats, re-enter the atmosphere, and land under parachutes just a few miles from the launch site. (The booster, meanwhile, lands separately and autonomously.) Blue Origin hasn’t said how much a ticket might cost.

While what the two companies offer is significantly different, “the common thread is that they both want to open up space for humanity,” says Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, the industry’s trade organization. And these two programs are just first steps, Stallmer says. It’s conceivable that private citizens will be visiting the International Space Station and other space habitats within a few years . Elon Musk, for example, says he aims to fly tourists to Mars within 15 years aboard SpaceX capsules .

“It’s not just that you have a private launch vehicle going into space, but you might even go to a space hotel run by a private company,” says Davenport.

“It all may sound futuristic,” says Stallmer. “But the future is now.”

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September 13, 2021

Space tourism: What's on offer

by Lucie Aubourg

A few minutes of weightlessness, or a few days. A short hop above the Earth's atmosphere, or a journey to the Moon and back... the era of space tourism is upon us, and—for those who can pay—it comes with many options.

This year has been an important one for the up-and-coming sector, with a slew of new missions announced. Here is the state of play.

1/ INSPIRATION4

Elon Musk's company is set this week to send four passengers to space, for a total of three days. They blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon mounted on a Falcon 9 rocket.

It'll be the first orbital mission involving four non-professional astronauts. The "Inspiration4" mission is chartered by American billionaire and pilot Jared Isaacman, and will fly beyond the altitude of the International Space Station.

In January 2022, three businessmen will visit the ISS, alongside an experienced former NASA astronaut.

The mission, which is to last 10 days in total and named Ax-1, is being organized by the company Axiom Space, which has signed up for three more future flights with SpaceX.

They will operate in the American segment of the ISS, where they will conduct scientific experiments.

3/ SPACE ADVENTURE

SpaceX also has plans for another orbital voyage for four paying clients, organized by Space Adventures.

It was this company that organized tips for seven tourists to the ISS between 2001 and 2009 aboard Russian rockets.

3/ DEARMOON

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is due to take a trip around the Moon, presumably in 2023, aboard a Starship rocket that is still under development by SpaceX. The mission is called dearMoon.

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic's experience involves an enormous carrier plane that takes off from a runway, reaches a high altitude, then drops a rocket-powered spaceplane which accelerates towards space.

The passengers and crew experience a few minutes of weightlessness at altitudes exceeding 50 miles (80 kilometers)—the US definition of space.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson participated in a test flight on July 11 out of New Mexico.

The company is currently grounded pending an investigation over a flight "mishap." It hopes to have routine flights by 2022.

Blue Origin

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin also offers a few minutes of weightlessness, but at altitudes exceeding 60 miles (100 kilometers). Its astronauts thus breach the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of space .

The reusable rocket blasts off vertically, and the capsule detaches in flight.

Its descent back to Earth is slowed by three huge parachutes and a thruster.

The Amazon founder was among the first four passengers to make the trip from the company's west Texas base on July 20.

Russian endeavors

Russia will send an actress and a director to the ISS in October, aboard a Soyuz rocket. The goal: to shoot the first fiction film in orbit and in zero gravity.

Japan's Yusaku Maezawa is also set to go to the ISS in December on a Soyuz rocket. The trip is to last 12 days and is being organized through Space Adventures.

The company has announced another mission to the ISS in 2023 in a Russian rocket , for two participants, one of whom will have the opportunity to perform a spacewalk.

Spaceballoon

Other companies are developing less ambitious projects, like Space Perspective. Its capsule, hoisted by a spaceballoon the size of a football stadium, offers a view of the Earth's curvature.

Tickets cost $125,000 but the balloon ascends only 30 kilometers, which means passengers won't experience weightlessness.

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Want to be a space tourist? Here are 6 things to consider first

The industry of space tourism could exist in the future. Image:  Unsplash/NASA

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Stay up to date:.

• In July 2021, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos went up into space, accompanied by fellow passengers.
• These trips created vast amounts of media coverage and brand recognition for Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Bezos’ Blue Origin.
• This could indicate that a commercial space tourism industry is on the horizon.
• Before space trips become commercially available, important factors such as environmental and safety laws need to be considered.

It’s been a momentous month for space-faring billionaires. On July 11, British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Unity “rocket-plane” flew him and five fellow passengers about 85 kilometres above Earth. And this week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard capsule reached an altitude of 106km , carrying Bezos, his brother, and the oldest and youngest people ever to reach such a height. Passengers on both flights experienced several minutes of weightlessness and took in breathtaking views of our beautiful and fragile Earth.

Both flights created an avalanche of media coverage and brand recognition for Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Bezos’s Blue Origin. There is renewed anticipation of a lucrative commercial space tourism industry that could eventually see thousands of paying passengers journey into space (or not quite into space, depending on your preferred level of pedantry).

This year marks 60 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Since then, almost 600 trained astronauts have gone into outer space, but very few people have become space tourists.

The first, US engineer Dennis Tito, paid a reported US$20 million to spend six days orbiting Earth in the Russian section of the International Space Station in April 2001, after three months’ training at Russia’s Star City complex. He was followed by a handful of other very wealthy “orbital tourists”, most recently Cirque de Soleil founder Guy Laliberté in 2009, whose ticket reportedly cost US$35 million.

Unlike their predecessors, Branson’s and Bezos’ flights were suborbital – they didn’t reach the velocity needed to orbit Earth. Bezos’s entire flight lasted just over 10 minutes. Suborbital flights are much less technically complex, and in theory cheaper (although one seat on the New Shepard flight was auctioned for US$28 million ).

While they might quibble over billionaire bragging rights, there’s no denying that suborbital “space” flights have the potential to be less eye-wateringly expensive than going into orbital outer space and beyond.

But before you sign up – assuming you’re lucky enough to afford it – here are a few things to consider.

Where does space start, anyway?

Have you read, how many space launches does it take to have a serious climate impact, from space squid to saliva: what's inside nasa's cargo missions and why, the big space clean-up - and why it matters.

Despite assertions to the contrary , there is no legal definition of “outer space”, and thus no official boundary where airspace ends and outer space begins. In the past, the International Aeronautical Federation has looked to the von Karman line , but this does not coincide with the boundary of any of the atmosphere’s scientifically defined layers, and the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space , which deals with such issues, has not yet resolved the question.

Conveniently for Branson, 80km has been proposed by some experts as an appropriate boundary.

Outer space is undeniably influenced by Earthly geopolitics. Essentially, the larger space-faring countries see no need to legally define a boundary that would clearly demarcate the upper limits of their sovereignty.

Will you be an ‘astronaut’?

The 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty designates astronauts as “envoys of (hu)mankind in outer space”. Certainly, that seemed to be the case as the world watched the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing and prayed for a safe return of the stricken Apollo 13 capsule. However, the 1968 UN Rescue Agreement refers to “personnel of a spacecraft”, which may imply not everyone on board should be considered a fully fledged astronaut.

Of course, these legal niceties won’t deter space tourism companies from awarding “astronaut wings” to their passengers.

What laws apply when things go wrong?

The 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia shuttle disasters are stark reminders of the dangers of space travel. Human space travel has always involved determining acceptable levels of risk for trained astronauts. But commercial space tourism is different to state-sponsored space programs, and will need the highest possible safety standards.

Commercial space travel will also require a system of responsibility and liability, for cases in which a space tourist suffers injury, loss or damage.

Space tourists (or their families) can’t claim for compensation under the 1972 UN Liability Convention which, in terms of space, applies only to collisions between space objects such as satellites and space debris. While there may be scope to take legal action under national laws, it is likely space tourists will be asked to sign carefully worded waivers of liability.

The same is probably true of international air law , which applies to “aircraft” — a designation space tourism operators will understandably be keen to avoid.

Ultimately, we may need to develop a system of “aerospace law” to govern these suborbital flights as well as “transorbital” transport such as the keenly envisaged flights that might one day take passengers from Sydney to London in just a few hours.

What activities should be allowed in space?

The advent of space tourism will give rise to some interesting ethical questions. Should there be advertising billboards in space? What about casinos, or brothels? On what legal basis should these things be restricted?

How does tourism fit with the underlying philosophy of space law: that the exploration and use of outer space “shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries”?

Will space tourism harm the environment?

Space tourism will inevitably put pressure on Earth’s environment – there are claims that space vehicles may one day become the world’s biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions. We will need to manage space traffic carefully to avoid disastrous collisions and steer clear of space debris .

If tourists go to the Moon, they may cause pollution or damage the heritage of earlier exploration, such as Neil Armstrong’s footprints .

Will tourism workers have to live in space?

If space tourism does become truly widespread, it will need infrastructure and perhaps even staff. People may end up living permanently in space settlements, perhaps having children who will be born as “space citizens”. What legal rights would someone have if they were born at a Moon base? Would they be subject to terrestrial laws, or some version of current international legal rules for outer space?

The World Economic Forum was the first to draw the world’s attention to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the current period of unprecedented change driven by rapid technological advances. Policies, norms and regulations have not been able to keep up with the pace of innovation, creating a growing need to fill this gap.

The Forum established the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network in 2017 to ensure that new and emerging technologies will help—not harm—humanity in the future. Headquartered in San Francisco, the network launched centres in China, India and Japan in 2018 and is rapidly establishing locally-run Affiliate Centres in many countries around the world.

The global network is working closely with partners from government, business, academia and civil society to co-design and pilot agile frameworks for governing new and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) , autonomous vehicles , blockchain , data policy , digital trade , drones , internet of things (IoT) , precision medicine and environmental innovations .

Learn more about the groundbreaking work that the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network is doing to prepare us for the future.

Want to help us shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Contact us to find out how you can become a member or partner.

These are obviously questions for the future. But given the excitement generated by the brief journeys of a couple of wealthy entrepreneurs, we should start contemplating them now. Outer space is the new frontier, but it is not — and must not — be a lawless one.

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One Step Closer to Space Tourism

Official clearance given for space flights

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Ground control to SpaceShipTwo, you are cleared to launch.

Virgin Galactic signed with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday for its first commercial space flight, set to take off by the end of the year from Spaceport America in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin of New Mexico.

The agreement licenses Galactic to operate like a commercial airline—hopefully with better in-flight service—but Richard Branson and Co. cannot schedule regular flights to space just yet. The FAA still needs to clears SpaceShipTwo for standard safety and environmental checks.

In related news,  SpaceX unveiled the Dragon V2 , a manned space capsule that will shuttle astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station. The Dragon V2 is a sweet rig, even by spacecraft standards: It features Tesla S touch screens and a SuperDraco engine—200 times more powerful than engines currently in use. In all, it’s a $500 million upgrade from the first iteration of the Dragon capsule .

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says he is fairly confident Dragon V2 will launch in two years from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, the historic launch site of Apollo 11 in July 1969.

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Business | Space tourism one step closer with Virgin…

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Business | Space tourism one step closer with Virgin Galactic test

High above the desert in a cloudless sky, the VSS Unity ignited its rocket to hurtle the ship and two pilots toward space. A live feed by NASASpaceFlight.com showed the ship accelerating upward and confirmed a landing later Saturday night via radar.

Virgin Galactic announced that its VSS Unity shuttle accelerated to three times the speed of sound and reached an altitude of just over 55 miles above sea level before making its gliding return through the atmosphere.

British billionaire and Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson said the flight and landing bring the roughly 15-year-old venture tantalizingly close to commercial flights for tourists. Virgin Galactic says those flights could begin next year.

“Today was just an incredible step in the right direction,” Branson said shortly after the flight landing. “It tested a lot of new systems that the teams have been building and they all worked.”

Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said at least two more undated test flights lie ahead — the next with four mission specialist passengers in the cabin. Pending trials also include a flight that will take Branson to the edge of space.

“The flight today was elegant, beautiful,” Colglazier said. “We’re going to analyze all the data that we gather on these flights. But watching from the ground and speaking with our pilots, it was magnificent. So now it’s time for us to do this again.”

While Virgin Galactic’s stock price ticked up this week ahead of the test flight, it wasn’t enough to overcome the losses seen since a peak in February. Some analysts have cautioned that it could be a while before the company sees profits as the exact start of commercial operations is still up in the air.

Virgin Galactic is one of a few companies looking to cash in on customers with an interest in space.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch a billionaire and his sweepstakes winners in September. That is expected to be followed in January by a flight by three businessmen to the International Space Station.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launched a new capsule in January as part of testing as it aims to get its program for tourists, scientists and professional astronauts off the ground. It’s planning for liftoff of its first crewed flight on July 20, the date of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

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Explained: What is space tourism? How can you book your ticket to space?

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Yesterday, Kyiv said it had seen no signs of a Belarusian troop build-up at the border.

Belarusian defence minister Viktor Khrenin said on Friday there was a high probability of an armed provocation from Ukraine and that the situation at their shared border "remains tense". 

Western leaders have left "handcuffs" on Ukrainians using their donated weapons because they fear playing to Vladimir Putin's agenda,  military analyst Sean Bell  says.

While the UK gave Ukraine free reign over its donated Storm Shadow missiles, so long as they hit military targets, the British government wants consensus with the US before they are used inside Russia - and "the US is rather cautious still".

Bell explains the argument made in the West - especially the US - is that they do not want to lend any credence to Putin's claims that Russia is fighting NATO or the West, rather than Ukraine.

" The risk is it plays to that agenda and Putin starts saying 'I'm actually in a war against the West' and therefore starts to respond accordingly."

Bell said: "But these handcuffs on the Ukrainians led to President Zelenskyy last night, in his nightly address, praising the West, particularly singling out the UK, for providing great weapons but also urging that the limitations are freed."

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says Ukraine has stationed more than 120,000 troops at its border with Belarus.

Minsk has sent military formations along its entire border in response, Russia's RIA state news agency said. 

Mr Lukashenko, one of Vladimir Putin's closest international allies, said the border is mined "as never before" and that Ukrainian troops would incur huge losses if they tried to cross it.

More detail now on Russia's overnight missile attack on Kyiv, which Ukraine says were "most likely" North Korean weapons.

Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, said: "According to preliminary information, the Russians again, for the third time in a row, most likely used North Korean ballistic missiles."

South Korea, Ukraine and the United States have accused North Korea of supplying artillery and missiles to Russia, which both states have denied.

Meanwhile, North Korea condemned Ukraine's incursion into Russia and said it would always stand with Russia, state media reported.

The dictatorship blamed the US for the attack, adding it was pushing the situation to the brink of World War Three, KCNA news agency said. 

"We strongly condemn the armed attack against the Russian territory by the Zelenskyy puppet regime under the control and support of the United States and the West as an unforgivable act of aggression and terror," North Korea's foreign ministry said.

North Korea has dramatically upgraded its ties with Russia in the past year with two summit meetings by their leaders who pledged closer cooperation in all areas. 

In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pact in Pyongyang on "comprehensive strategic partnership" that included a mutual defence agreement. 

The Ukrainian air force says it has attacked a second bridge in Russia's Kursk region.

Footage posted on a commander's Telegram channel shows an attack on a bridge in Zvannoe, Kursk over the Seym river.

This is the same river over which another bridge was destroyed earlier this week.

Ukraine's destruction of infrastructure in the area is believed to be an attempt to hamper Russian supply lines or reinforcements.

Air force commander Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk wrote: "Minus one more bridge! The aviation of the air force continues to deprive the enemy of its logistical capabilities with accurate air strikes, which significantly affects the course of hostilities."

Ukraine's offensive in Kursk has generated frontline-wide pressures on Russian forces, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Vladimir Putin is almost certain to attempt to retake the Russian territory, which will require more manpower and equipment from elsewhere in the theatre, the US-based think tank said.

Long-term, Putin will be forced to make a decision about committing more resource Russia's long international border with Ukraine, imposing "constraints" on theatre-wide planning that "Russia previously did not face".

"The Ukrainian incursion in Kursk Oblast and the heightened Russian priority of maintaining the tempo of offensive operations in Donetsk Oblast will likely place greater strain on Russia's remaining operational reserves and likely begin to impact Russia's ability to sustain consistent offensive operations throughout the theatre," the ISW said.

"Further Russian redeployments to Kursk Oblast would also further weaken Russia's ability to sustain offensive operations in northeastern and eastern Ukraine."

The Russian military has already redeployed 11 battalions from within Kursk Oblast and four Russian force groupings from elsewhere.

This may be at odds with Putin's strategy of grinding attrition and indefinite, incremental territorial gains, but "persisting Ukrainian occupation of Russian territory would be a strategic blow to Putin's decades-long effort to cement a legacy of Russian stability, security, and geopolitical resurgence".

Russia has launched its third ballistic missile attack on Kyiv this month.

A witness heard blasts that sounded like air defence systems early this morning, before fresh air raid alerts sounded over the threat of more missiles heading towards the city.

Preliminary data showed all missiles were destroyed on their approach to the city, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital said. 

"This is already the third ballistic strike on the capital in August, with exact intervals of six days between each attack," said Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration.

He added that Ukraine's air defence units also destroyed a number of drones launched by Russia.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. 

Ukraine's air force chief said its forces destroyed eight Russian attack drones and five out of eight missiles launched overnight towards the Kyiv, Sumy and Poltava regions.

A Ukrainian drone attack has caused a fire at a Russian oil reservoir, according to reports.

More than 70 firefighters rushed to tackle the blaze that covered  5,000 square metres in the Azov district of the Rostov-on-Don region, according to the Russian emergencies ministry. 

Baza, a Telegram channel close to Russian law enforcement, said an oil depot was damaged in Rostov, while Russia's SHOT channel posted a video showing dark smoke rising from what it said was an oil depot.

Regional governor Vasily Golubev said debris from a destroyed Ukrainian drone sparked a diesel fuel fire at an "industrial warehouse". 

Russia's air defence units destroyed five drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting the Kursk, Belgorod and Rostov regions, Russia's defence ministry said.

Russia rarely admits direct hits by Ukrainian drones.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war, as we continue to track Ukraine's surprise incursion into the Kursk region of Russia.

Kyiv has been calling for permission to use more Western weapons in Russia, as it seeks to improve Ukraine's future negotiating position and threaten the stability of Vladimir Putin's.

We'll be bringing you live updates and analysis throughout the day, but before we begin, here is a recap of the key developments over the last 24 hours.

Bridge attack: Russia's foreign ministry claimed Ukraine used Western rockets to destroy a bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region.

Kursk: Volodymyr Zelenskyy heralded the achievements of his forces in Kursk, encouraging them to inflict "maximum damage on all Russian positions".

Ukraine's offensive in the region showed that escalating attacks against Russia was "nothing to be afraid of", a former foreign policy adviser to Mr Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, military analyst Sean Bell forecast that Vladimir Putin will not accept any negotiations involving the occupied Kursk territory, despite Ukrainian ambitions, and will instead deal with it "ruthlessly".

Western weapons:  Washington appeared to be effectively blocking the UK from permitting Kyiv to fire Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia. The UK has been waiting for US approval for more than a month, a government source told The Times.

'Insane' propaganda: Kyiv dismissed "insane Russian propaganda" alleging Ukraine planned to carry out nuclear attacks. Moscow had accused Ukraine - without providing any evidence - of gearing up to attack the Kursk nuclear power plant and developing a "dirty bomb"; an explosive used to scatter radioactive waste.

Threat to nuclear safety: Safety at Ukraine's occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was deteriorating after a drone strike on a nearby road, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has praised the UK's "true leadership" in its support of Ukraine - but warned "the situation has slowed down recently" as it pushes into Russian territory.

In his nightly video address, he stressed it is "crucial that our partners remove barriers that hinder us from weakening Russian positions in the way this war demands".

He promised to "intensify our diplomatic efforts" amid the Kursk incursion, naming the UK,  US, and France as key targets.

It comes amid speculation Germany is planning to halve its Ukrainian aid budget next year.

Mr Zelenskyy finished his X post by saying: "Throughout this war, we've seen the UK demonstrate true leadership—in arms, politics, and support for Ukrainian society. 

"This has saved thousands of lives, reflecting the strength of the UK."

But he added: "Unfortunately, the situation has slowed down recently. 

"We will discuss how to fix this because long-range capabilities are vital for us. The whole world sees how effective Ukrainians are—how our entire nation defends its independence."

In a Sunday Express interview, Defence Secretary John Healey endorsed Ukraine using British weapons inside Russia - as long as it keeps within international law.

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