Elon Musk vs Jeff Bezos vs Richard Branson : The space race is on!

[Ironcat]

Can't get enough of Star Wars this week? Here's one between Musk (Tesla) and Bezos (Amazon) -- coming soon to a galaxy near you...

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SpaceX Falcon rocket nails safe landing in pivotal space feat
by Reuters

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida on Monday with a payload of communications satellites before the reusable main-stage booster turned around, soared back to Cape Canaveral and landed safely near its launch pad in a dramatic spaceflight first.

The launch and successful return of the rocket's first stage, followed by deployment of all 11 satellites delivered to orbit for customer ORBCOMM, marked the first SpaceX flight since a June accident that destroyed cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.

The upgraded, 23-story-tall rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 8:29 p.m. EST/0129 GMT, with the main stage returning about 10 minutes later to a landing site about 6 miles south of its launch pad.

The smooth mission gives a major boost to privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, the California-based company founded and operated by high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Musk has said the ability to return its rockets to Earth so they can be refurbished and reflown would slash his company's operational costs in the burgeoning and highly competitive private space launch industry.

SpaceX employees erupted in jubilation as they watched a live stream of the 156-foot-tall white booster slowly descending amid a glowing orange ball.

"Welcome back, baby!," Musk said in a celebratory tweet.

Rival company Blue Origin, a space startup founded by Amazon.com Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, nailed a similar return rocket landing test last month, but the SpaceX feat was achieved during an actual commercial launch.

Minutes after blast-off, the Falcon 9's first stage rocket separated from its upper-stage booster, which continued on into orbit to release ORBCOMM's satellites, which will provide machine-to-machine messaging services on the ground - such as between retailers and shipping containers.

The rocket's main stage then turned around, fired a series of engine burns, deployed landing legs, and settled itself onto a newly refurbished landing pad occupying a decommissioned missile site.

SpaceX previously experimented, unsuccessfully, with landing its rockets on a platform in the ocean.

The Hawthorne, California-based company was founded in 2002 by Musk, who also serves as chief executive of Tesla Motors, the electric car maker.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/21/spacex-falcon-rocket-blasts-off-and-returns-to-safe-landing.html

 

[Ironcat]

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<p>Musk vs Bezos</p>
<p>A new space race is brewing between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Who has struck the first punch? </p>
</iframe>

 

[PetroDollars]

Great entrepreneur Jeff is but i cant see anyone taking on Musk, hes on another level.

 

[anuk]

bezos is nothing but a sweat shop owner. maybe he should stop the vanity projects and start taking care of his workers.

 

[uberkoen]

bezos is nothing but a sweat shop owner. maybe he should stop the vanity projects and start taking care of his workers.

A sweat shop owner worth 59 billion dollars!

 

[PetroDollars]

A sweat shop owner worth 59 billion dollars!

Staggering, considering Amazon has never made a profit in its history.

 

[OMB]

$28 million: The cost of riding into space with the world’s richest man

Last week, the world’s richest man and announced that he would be going in to space on the first crewed flight by his company Blue Origin. Then this week a seat on the space carrier was auctioned and bids were placed. Now, Blue Origin has revealed that a seat was auctioned for a whopping $28 million.

The winning bidder will fly to space on New Shepard’s first human flight on July 20. The bidder will be joined by Jeff Bezos and his brother . Blue Origin said that nearly 7,600 people registered to bid from 159 countries.
The company further said that the winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, whose mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in and to help invent the future of life in space.

Blue Origin hasn’t revealed the name of the auction winner as of now. However, it said that the name of the auction winner will be released in the weeks following the auction’s conclusion. Then, the fourth and final crew member will be announced. A total of four people — including Bezos brothers — will go on the
space craft.

Bezos said last week that he wants to go on this flight as it is something he wanted to do all his life. “You see the earth from space and it changes you. It changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity. It’s one Earth,” Bezos was quoted as saying in multiple online reports. “I want to go on this flight
because it’s the thing I’ve wanted to do all my life. It’s an adventure. It’s a big deal for me."

https://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/28-million-the-cost-of-riding-into-space-with-the-worlds-richest-man/articleshow/83476818.cms

 

[OMB]

Sir Richard Branson sets 11 July to make spaceflight

Sir Richard has been busy of late training for his trip to the edge of space


Sir Richard Branson has named the date he'll fly to the edge of space. It will be 11 July, or very soon after.

He'll be a passenger in the back of the Unity rocket plane his Virgin Galactic company has been developing in the US for the better part of two decades.

The vehicle can climb to an altitude of 90km (295,000ft), giving those onboard a few minutes of weightlessness and a view of the curvature of the Earth.

Sir Richard's intention is to introduce a commercial spaceflight service.

Some 600 individuals have already lodged deposits to take the ride.

Witnessing the British entrepreneur do it means those customers are now getting extremely close to having to hand over the full ticket price, which in some cases will be $250,000 (£180,000).

Sir Richard Branson said: "I truly believe that space belongs to all of us. After 17 years of research, engineering and innovation, the new commercial space industry is poised to open the Universe to humankind and change the world for good.

"It's one thing to have a dream of making space more accessible to all; it's another for an incredible team to collectively turn that dream into reality."

The Unity rocket plane climbs to an altitude of 90km (295,000ft)
Absolutely key to Virgin Galactic moving forward with its business was the granting last week of a commercial spaceflight licence by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Sunday 11 July is the opening of what's termed a flight "window". The Galactic team will aim to make the ascent on that day, but it could of course be delayed because of unfavourable weather conditions or perhaps a technical issue.

If the mission does indeed go ahead on that Sunday, it would mean Sir Richard stealing a march on his rival in sub-orbital space tourism, fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos.

The founder of the online retail empire Amazon.com has sunk a fortune into his hobby of building rockets and has announced his own trip to the edge of space on 20 July.

He's invited three individuals to join him in his New Shepard booster and capsule system: his brother Mark; a mystery person who paid $28m (£20m) at auction for a seat; and the famed female aviator Wally Funk.

Eighty-two-year old Funk trained to be an astronaut in the 1960s and will become the oldest ever spacefarer when she rockets to an altitude of 100km with Mr Bezos.

The Amazon man has yet to detail how he'll sell tickets more generally for New Shepard, but this is his plan.

Sir Richard has clearly moved his first flight up in response to Mr Bezos naming the date for his inaugural mission.

The original schedule for the next Unity flight called for four Virgin Galactic employees to ride as passengers to test the cabin experience for future tourists. Only after that outing was Sir Richard supposed to strap himself in.

He'll now be one of the four testers - alongside Beth Moses, Galactic's chief astronaut instructor; Colin Bennett, lead operations engineer; and Sirisha Bandla, vice president of government affairs.

The two pilots up front will be Dave Mackay and Michael "Sooch" Masucci.

Space tourism is a sector being rekindled after a decade's hiatus.

Throughout the 2000s, seven wealthy individuals paid to visit the International Space Station (ISS). But this adventurism, organised under the patronage of the Russian space agency, ceased in 2009.

Now, new initiatives abound, and some of these will be aiming much higher than the sub-orbital flights from Sir Richard and Jeff Bezos.

California tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has already lined up several private missions in his Dragon capsules. These vehicles reach several hundred km above the Earth and will stay up for days.

The Russians, too, are reprising their commercial flights to the ISS, and there are even those who want to launch private space stations for people to visit. Among these is Axiom, a company started by a former Nasa ISS programme manager.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57689855

 

[OMB]

Sirisha Bandla, The Indian-American On Virgin Galactic's Space Mission

Sirisha Bandla, astronaut number 4 on the Virgin Galactic space mission crew, was born in Andhra Pradesh and grew up in Houston.


On July 11, when billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, along with a crew, travels to the edge of space on a Virgin Galactic test flight, astronaut Sirisha Bandla will be taking care of the researcher experience on the Unity22 mission. And while the flight marks a key milestone in the area of private commercial space travel, Indians have a separate reason to cheer.

Sirisha Bandla, astronaut number 4 on the crew, was born in Andhra Pradesh and grew up in Houston. She is also the Vice President, Government Affairs and Research Operations at Virgin Galactic.

"Indian-origin women continue to break the proverbial glass ceiling and prove their mettle," tweeted former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NN Chandrababu Naidu on Friday. "On July 11, Sirisha Bandla with Telugu roots is set to fly to space aboard VSS Unity with Richard Branson and the team marking the dawn of the new space age, making all Indians proud," the post read.

Mr Naidu shared two pictures - one featuring all five members of the crew and a solo photo of Ms Bandla.

Soon after the Telugu Desam Party president's tweet, people not just congratulated Ms Bandla on her achievement but also acknowledged that it would encourage many more women to join the field.

"Yes, sir. She is surely gonna make the land proud. More power to you Sirisha Bandla you will be an inspiration to many. Fly Colours," a user wrote.

Another said, "Encourage, educate and empower."

Here are some more reactions:

The same day, Ms Bandla, too, quote-tweeted a Virgin Galactic post carrying a video that featured all the crew members, including "astronaut number 1, Richard Branson."

"I am so incredibly honoured to be a part of the amazing crew of Unity22, and to be a part of a company whose mission is to make space available to all," she said.

In a subsequent tweet, the astronaut said that she was overwhelmed by messages of love. "I really didn't need to tweet this since my friends flooded the feed yesterday with it. I was overwhelmed (in a good way) by messages of love, unrecognizable capital text, and positivity yesterday. Slowly working my way through them...One platform at a time," she wrote.

In the introduction video shared by Virgin Galactic, Mr Branson said that he will be evaluating the customer spaceflight experience, adding that as the founder of the company, he was proud of the crew he has by his side as they fly to space. "This July our dream will become a reality and we are excited to share it with you all," he said. Not just that, Mr Branson also left people guessing about what he is going to announce when he returns.

"When we return from space, I will announce something very exciting to give more people the chance to become an astronaut. Because space belongs to us all. So watch this space," the billionaire said.

The July 11 mission will be the twenty-second flight test for VSS Unity and Virgin Galactic's fourth crewed spaceflight, the company said on Friday.

https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/sirisha-bandla-the-indian-american-on-virgin-galactics-space-mission-twitter-loves-her-2478233

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/11/richard-branson-virgin-galactic-space

The British entrepreneur Richard Branson has successfully flown to the edge of space and back in his Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane, days ahead of a rival launch by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, as the two billionaires raced to kick off a new era of space tourism.

Seventeen years after Branson founded Virgin Galactic to develop commercial spacecraft and cater to future space tourists, the spaceplane went into sub-orbital flight on Sunday morning, reaching 55 miles (88km ) above Earth’s surface. The launch was slightly delayed until 10.40ET due to weather conditions at the Virgin Galactic’s operational base at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert.

The long-awaited flight, which Branson said in a pre-recorded video he had been dreaming of since the moon landing in 1969, was the vehicle’s first fully crewed test flight to space and lasted 59 minutes from start to finish, with passengers experiencing several minutes of weightlessness.

Branson, 70, arrived at the spaceport on a bicycle on Sunday morning and greeted his crewmates with a hug. “It’s a beautiful day to go to space,” he tweeted.

Branson flew with pilots David Mackay and Michael Masucci, Beth Moses, the company’s chief astronaut instructor, Virgin Galactic’s lead operations engineer Colin Bennett and Sirisha Bandla, a research operations and government affairs vice-president.

Carrier plane VMS EVE, named after Branson’s late mother, hauled the SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity to an altitude of about 50,000ft, and then released the VSS Unity rocket plane, which climbed up further into space.

During live footage, Branson and fellow astronauts were seen strapped into seats, wearing sunglasses as they grinned.

A gathering of space industry executives, future customers and other well-wishers witnessed the launch at Spaceport America, including fellow billionaire and space industry pioneer Elon Musk.

A live broadcast was hosted by comedian Stephen Colbert, former Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield, and future Virgin Galactic astronaut Kellie Gerardi, who will also fly up into space on a research flight in 2022.

In nine days’ time, Bezos will launch his own rocket, New Shepard – named for Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut in space, which was manufactured by Bezos’s company Blue Origin.

New Shepard will take Bezos and five others, including his brother, Mark, and pilot Wally Funk, who was denied the job of astronaut in the 1960s because she was a woman, roughly 62 miles above the Earth’s surface.

On Saturday, Blue Origin tweeted a message of good luck to Virgin Galactic, after tweeting shade on Friday, when it alluded to whether Unity 22 is really going into space, instead of just to the edge of space.

 

[OMB]

Sirisha Bandla Becomes Third Indian-Origin Woman To Fly Into Space

Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity, as the spaceplane is called, took off for the 1.5-hour mission above New Mexico following a 90-minute delay due to bad weather.

Aeronautical engineer Sirisha Bandla on Sunday became the third Indian-origin woman to fly into space when she joined British billionaire Richard Branson on Virgin Galactic's first fully crewed suborbital test flight from New Mexico.
Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity, as the spaceplane is called, took off for the 1.5-hour mission above New Mexico following a 90-minute delay due to bad weather.

Ms Bandla joined Branson and five others on board Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unity to make a journey to the edge of space from New Mexico.

"I am so incredibly honoured to be a part of the amazing crew of #Unity22, and to be a part of a company whose mission is to make space available to all," 34-year-old Bandla tweeted days before the flight.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I am so incredibly honored to be a part of the amazing crew of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Unity22?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Unity22</a>, and to be a part of a company whose mission is to make space available to all. <a href="https://t.co/sPrYy1styc">https://t.co/sPrYy1styc</a></p>— Sirisha Bandla (@SirishaBandla) <a href="https://twitter.com/SirishaBandla/status/1410946704875130882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
"I am so incredibly honoured to be a part of the amazing crew of #Unity22, and to be a part of a company whose mission is to make space available to all," 34-year-old Bandla tweeted days before the flight.

"When I first heard that I was getting this opportunity, it was just... I was speechless. I think that that probably captured it very well. This is an incredible opportunity to get people from different backgrounds, different geographies and different communities into space," she said in a video posted on the Twitter handle of Virgin Galactic on July 6.

The primary objective for Unity 22 was to serve as a test flight for future commercial passenger flights by Virgin Galactic.

Ms Bandla, who was born in Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh and brought up in Houston, was astronaut No 004 and her flight role was Researcher Experience. The other crew members were two pilots and three other crewmates, including billionaire Branson, who turns 71 in a week.

She became the third Indian-origin woman to fly into space after Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams. Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma is the only Indian citizen to travel in space. The former Indian Air Force pilot flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on April 3, 1984, part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme.

Ms Bandla moved to the US when she was 4-year-old and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University in 2011. She finished her Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University in 2015.

Ms Bandla wanted to be an astronaut for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). However, her poor eyesight meant she could not meet the requirements to become a pilot or an astronaut.

When she was at Purdue University, a professor told her about an opportunity in the field of commercial space flights.

Virgin Galactic - the business Branson started in 2004 - aims to fly private citizens to the edge of space. The trips are designed to permit passengers to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and observe the curvature of Earth.

https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/virgin-galactic-sirisha-bandla-becomes-third-indian-origin-woman-to-fly-into-space-2484291

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/12/virgin-galactic-shares-fall-after-stock-sale-announcement-richard-branson

Shares in Virgin Galactic have fallen back to earth with a bump after an announcement by the spaceflight firm of its plans to sell up to $500m (£360m) of stock – only a day after the company’s founder, Richard Branson, completed a flight to the edge of space.

Virgin Galactic’s share price had risen by about 9% in pre-market trading on Monday but changed course and plummeted by as much 14% after the company said it intended to sell off shares to raise funds.

The company, founded by the billionaire entrepreneur Branson in 2004, revealed in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it had entered into a distribution agency agreement with the Wall Street investment banks Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Virgin Galactic said it intended to use the proceeds of the sale “for general corporate purposes, including working capital, general and administrative matters and capital expenditures for its manufacturing capabilities, development of its spaceship fleet and other infrastructure improvements”.

While investors had initially welcomed Virgin Galactic’s successful first fully crewed test flight, existing shareholders were not pleased with the prospect of their holdings being diluted by the proposed share issue, which led to the fall in the share price.

Virgin Galactic’s shares are currently worth more than $43, giving the company a market value of about $11.8bn, although they remain almost a third below their record high of almost $63 in February this year.

Branson’s trip from Virgin Galactic’s operational base at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert to the edge of space and back was seen as a key milestone in the company’s goal of launching a commercial space service next year.

The flight allowed the British entrepreneur to seal his place as the first of the rival “billionaire space barons” to make the trip.

The commercial space race is hotting up, and Amazon’s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, is just over a week away from making his own flight in his New Shepard rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut in space, and manufactured by Bezos’s company Blue Origin.

Branson’s venture, created to develop commercial spacecraft and cater to future space tourists, has had several false starts after he first forecast that paying passengers would be flown into space by 2008.

Virgin Galactic is planning two additional test flights before the company aims to begin commercial services in 2022. Virgin Galactic’s chief executive, Michael Colglazier, told the Financial Times on Monday that the company hoped to carry out at least one flight a day from each of its spaceports in the future.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/26/jeff-bezos-nasa-blue-origin-space

Jeff Bezos has offered Nasa $2bn – if the US space agency reverses course and chooses his company, Blue Origin, to make a spacecraft designed to land astronauts back on the moon.

In an open letter to the Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson – a former astronaut and Democratic senator from Florida – Bezos, who last week completed a suborbital trip to space, criticised the agency’s decision to award the moon contract to rival company SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, in April.

Bezos urged Nasa to reconsider and said Blue Origin would waive payments in the government’s current fiscal year and the next after that up to $2bn, and pay for an orbital mission to vet its technology.

Nasa handed Musk’s SpaceX a $2.9bn contract to build a spacecraft to bring astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2024, rejecting bids from Blue Origin and the defense contractor Dynetics. Nasa had been expected to winnow the field to two companies, but went all in on SpaceX. Blue Origin had partnered with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper in its bid.

The space agency cited its own funding shortfalls, SpaceX’s proven record of orbital missions and other factors in a contract decision that a senior Nasa official, Kathy Lueders, said represented “what’s the best value to the government”.

At the time Blue Origin said the decision “not only delays but also endangers America’s return to the moon”. The company filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Office, accusing the agency of giving SpaceX an unfair advantage by allowing it to revise its pricing.

In his letter on Monday, Bezos wrote: “Blue Origin will bridge the [Human Landing System] budgetary funding shortfall by waiving all payments in the current and next two government fiscal years up to $2bn to get the program back on track right now.

“This offer is not a deferral, but is an outright and permanent waiver of those payments. This offer provides time for government appropriation actions to catch up.”

In exchange, Bezos said, Blue Origin would accept a firm, fixed-priced contract and cover any system development cost overruns.

Bezos has seemingly been buoyed by his successful space voyage on 20 July, when the New Shepard rocket soared past the 62-mile altitude Kármán Line, the internationally accepted boundary of space, during an 11-minute flight. The flight was seen as a milestone for the company’s bid to become a major player in an emerging space tourism market.

Writing to Nelson, Bezos said competition was required to fulfill Nasa’s aim of returning astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972.

“Without competition, a short time into the contract, Nasa will find itself with limited options as it attempts to negotiate missed deadlines, design changes and cost overruns,” he wrote. “Without competition, Nasa’s short-term and long-term lunar ambitions will be delayed, will ultimately cost more, and won’t serve the national interest.”

A Nasa spokesperson said the agency was aware of Bezos’s letter, but declined to comment further, citing the GAO protest filed by Blue Origin. A decision in that case is expected by early August, though industry experts say Blue Origin views the possibility of a reversal as unlikely.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/aug/13/richard-branson-sells-third-stake-in-virgin-galactic-to-prop-up-other-firms

Richard Branson has sold a further $300m (£220m) stake in Virgin Galactic to raise more funds to prop up his airline, Virgin Atlantic, and other businesses hit hard by the pandemic.

It is the third time Sir Branson, 71, has sold a large tranche of shares in in his space tourism company since it joined the New York stock exchange in 2019. He sold $505m worth in May 2020 and $150m in April this year, taking his total stake sales to almost $1bn. He still holds about 46m shares worth $1.2bn.

The parent company, Virgin Group, said in statement that it “intends to use the net proceeds from this sale to support its portfolio of global leisure, holiday and travel businesses that continue to be affected by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to supporting the development and growth of new and existing businesses”.

Virgin Investments sold 10.4m Virgin Galactic shares this week at prices of between $25 and $34, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The shares fell 3% in early trading on the news, before recovering to 1% down.

The sale comes about a month after Branson became the first billionaire to successfully launch a fully crewed private flight into space. Virgin Galactic’s rocket plane launched on 11 July, just days before Amazon’s Jeff Bezos blasted off in his Blue Origin New Shepard spacecraft. Tesla’s Elon Musk is also preparing for space flight with his company SpaceX.

Virgin Atlantic, in which Virgin Group owns a 51% stake – the US airline Delta owns the other 49% – was plunged into crisis by the near-cessation of transatlantic flights at the height of the pandemic. It has required several emergency cash injections.

Branson had pleaded for UK government support for the airline, but his requests prompted a substantial backlash. Many critics pointed out that he has paid no personal income tax in the UK since moving to the tax-free British Virgin Islands 14 years ago.

Speculation is growing that Branson is considering a stock market flotation for Virgin Atlantic.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/blue-origin-sues-us-government-over-spacex-lunar-lander-contract-2021-08-16/

Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin sued the U.S government over NASA's decision to award a $2.9 billion lunar lander contract to Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Blue Origin's lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on Friday "challenges NASA’s unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals," the company said in a court filing.

Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sided with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration over its decision to pick a single lunar lander provider, rejecting Blue Origin's protest.

Blue Origin's lawsuit remains under seal. NASA must file a response to the challenge by Oct. 12.

Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics have argued that NASA was required to make multiple awards. The GAO said it "denied the protest arguments that NASA acted improperly in making a single award to SpaceX."

Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Amazon.com Inc billionaire Bezos, said earlier it remained convinced that there were "fundamental issues" with NASA's decision, and that GAO was not able to address them "due to their limited jurisdiction."

Blue Origin, headed by Tesla Inc's Musk, said it will continue to advocate for two immediate providers as it believes that to be the right solution.

NASA, which did not immediately comment on the Blue Origin lawsuit, said in July that "GAO's decision will allow NASA and SpaceX to establish a timeline for the first crewed landing on the Moon in more than 50 years."

SpaceX did not immediately comment on Monday.

NASA had sought proposals for a spacecraft that would carry astronauts to the lunar surface under its Artemis program to return humans to the moon for the first time since 1972.

In April, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract to build such a spacecraft as early as 2024.

Blue Origin had contended NASA gave SpaceX an unfair advantage by letting it revise its pricing.

Bezos has offered to cover up to $2 billion in NASA costs if the U.S. space agency awarded Blue Origin a lunar landing contract.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/spacex-set-make-history-with-first-all-civilian-crew-launched-into-orbit-2021-09-15/

The latest in a recent line of space-obsessed billionaires was set for liftoff on Wednesday with three less wealthy private citizens along for the ride aboard a SpaceX rocket ship, seeking to become the first all-civilian crew launched into Earth orbit.

The quartet of amateur space travelers, led by the American founder and chief executive of e-commerce firm Shift4 Payments Inc, Jared Isaacman, were due for blastoff as early as 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

SpaceX's senior director of human spaceflight, Benji Reed, told reporters at the Cape on Tuesday that "everything looked great" following a final "static" test-firing of the rocket engines on Monday morning.

"Right now the weather is trending well" for an on-time launch, he said.

The flight, with no professional astronauts accompanying SpaceX's paying customers, is expected to last about three days from liftoff to splashdown in the Atlantic.

They will fly aboard a gleaming white SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed Resilience, perched atop one of the company's reusable Falcon 9 rockets and fitted with a special observation dome in place of the usual docking hatch.

Isaacman, 38, the trip's benefactor, has forked over an undisclosed but presumably hefty sum to fellow billionaire and SpaceX owner Elon Musk to send himself and his three crewmates aloft. Time magazine has put the ticket price for all four seats at $200 million.

The so-called Inspiration4 mission was conceived by Isaacman mainly to raise awareness and support for one of his favorite causes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a leading pediatric cancer center in Memphis, Tennessee.

It marks the debut flight of Musk's new orbital tourism business, and a leap ahead of competitors likewise offering rides on rocket ships to well-heeled customers willing to pay a small fortune for the exhilaration, and bragging rights, of spaceflight.

Inspiration4 is aiming for an orbital altitude of 360 miles (575 km) above Earth, higher than the International Space Station or Hubble Space Telescope. At that height, the Crew Dragon will circle the globe once every 90 minutes at a speed of some 17,000 miles per hour (27,360 kph), or roughly 22 times the speed of sound.

LEAP AHEAD OF RIVALS

Rival companies Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin inaugurated their own private-astronaut services this summer, with their respective founding executives, billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, each going along for the ride.

But those suborbital flights, lasting a matter of minutes, were short hops compared with Inspiration4's spaceflight profile.

SpaceX already ranks as the most well-established player in the burgeoning constellation of commercial rocket ventures, having launched numerous cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA. Two of its Dragon capsules are docked there already.

Despite some largely honorary titles, the Inspiration4 crew will have no part to play in flying the spacecraft, which will be operated by ground-based flight teams and onboard guidance systems, even though two crew members are licensed pilots.

Isaacman, who is rated to fly commercial and military jets, has assumed the role of mission "commander," while geoscientist Sian Proctor, 51, a former NASA astronaut candidate, has been designated as the mission "pilot."

Rounding out the crew are "chief medical officer" Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a bone cancer survivor turned St. Jude physicians' assistant, and mission "specialist" Chris Sembroski, 42, a U.S. Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer.

The four crewmates have spent five months in rigorous preparations, including altitude fitness, centrifuge (G-force), microgravity and simulator training, emergency drills, classroom work and medical exams.

Inspiration4 officials stress that the mission is more than a joyride.

Once in orbit, the crew will perform a series of medical experiments with "potential applications for human health on Earth and during future spaceflights," the group said in media materials.

Biomedical data and biological samples, including ultrasound scans, will also be collected from crew members before, during and after the flight.

"The crew of Inspiration4 is eager to use our mission to help make a better future for those who will launch in the years and decades to come," Isaacman said in a statement.