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Sub-orbital Spaceflight
A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital revolution (it does not become an artificial satellite) or reach escape velocity. For example, the path of an object launched from Earth that reaches the Kármán line (at ) above sea level), and then falls back to Earth, is considered a sub-orbital spaceflight. Some sub-orbital flights have been undertaken to test spacecraft and launch vehicles later intended for orbital spaceflight. Other vehicles are specifically designed only for sub-orbital flight; examples include crewed vehicles, such as the X-15 and SpaceShipOne, and uncrewed ones, such as ICBMs and sounding rockets. Flights which attain sufficient velocity to go into low Earth orbit, and then de-orbit before completing their first full orbit, are not considered sub-orbital. Exa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Origin NS-18
Blue Origin NS-18 was a sub-orbital spaceflight mission operated by Blue Origin that launched on 13 October 2021. The mission was the eighteenth flight of the company's New Shepard integrated launch vehicle and spacecraft. It was the second crewed New Shepard launch. The flight, carrying four people including actor William Shatner, launched from Blue Origin's sub-orbital launch site in West Texas aboard the fourth flight of New Shepard booster NS4 and the spacecraft RSS ''First Step'', both having previously flown on NS-14, NS-15, and NS-16 earlier in the year. At 90, Shatner became the oldest person to fly into space, surpassing the record of 82 which had been held by Wally Funk for three months since her flight on Blue Origin NS-16. Per Blue Origin, Shatner was a guest of the company on the flight and did not have to pay for the trip. While in space, Shatner experienced the overview effect and articulated it live on camera in a post-flight conversation with Jeff Bezos. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spaceport America
Spaceport America, formerly the Southwest Regional Spaceport, is an FAA-licensed spaceport located on of State Trust Land in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and southeast of Truth or Consequences. With Virgin Galactic's launch of the VSS ''Unity'', with three people aboard, on May 22, 2021, New Mexico became the third US state to launch humans into space after California and Florida. Spaceport America is "the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport", designed and constructed specifically for commercial users, that had not previously been an airport or federal infrastructure of any kind. The site is built to accommodate both vertical and horizontal launch aerospace vehicles, as well as an array of non-aerospace events and commercial activities. Spaceport America is owned and operated by the State of New Mexico, via a state agency, the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. The first rocket launch at Spaceport America occurred on Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgin Galactic Unity 22
Virgin Galactic Unity 22 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS ''Unity'' which launched on 11 July 2021. The crew consisted of pilots David Mackay and Michael Masucci as well as passengers Sirisha Bandla, Colin Bennett, Beth Moses, and Richard Branson. Background On 7 June 2021, Jeff Bezos announced that he planned to be on the first crewed flight of his company Blue Origin, which meant being aboard the first crewed flight to space (suborbital) of a private enterprise fully funded by private money with (2 possible different "record firsts" depending on whether one uses the international standard limit of space as 100 km altitude or the USA 50 mile altitude limit): * A) in case of using the Karman line as the boundary of space, passengers (non-pilots) onboard, or * B) in case of using thee USAF/NASA 50 mile altitude limit for space, more than 1 passenger (i.e. non-pilot) aboard. These two different "record firsts" are due to the fact that A) SpaceShi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VSS Unity Unity21
Virgin Galactic Unity 21 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS ''Unity'' which took place on 22 May 2021, piloted by David Mackay and co-piloted by Frederick Sturckow. It was the first human spaceflight from the state of New Mexico. It was operated by Virgin Galactic, a private company led by Richard Branson which intends to conduct space tourism flights in the future. Unity 21 was the first human spaceflight to be launched from Spaceport America. Reaching an apogee of , the flight satisfied the United States definition of spaceflight (), but fell short of the Kármán line (), the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale definition. Crew Flights are currently only by U.S Convention. Flight On 22 May 2021, ''Unity's'' mother ship A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft. Examples include bombers co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VSS Unity VF-01
VF-01 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS ''Unity'' that took place on 22 February 2019, piloted by David Mackay and co-piloted by Mike Masucci. It was operated by Virgin Galactic, a private company led by Richard Branson that intends to conduct space tourism flights in the future. Following VSS ''Unity'' VP-03, VF-01 was a demonstration of the craft's ability to carry passengers. Virgin Galactic's chief astronaut trainer Beth Moses acted as a test passenger, evaluating the experience for potential customers. Reaching an apogee of , the flight satisfied the United States definition of spaceflight (), but fell short of the Kármán line (), the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale definition. Crew Flights are currently only by U.S Convention. Flight On 22 February 2019, ''Unity's'' mother ship VMS ''Eve'' carried it into flight in a parasite configuration. Shortly before 9 a.m., ''Unity'' was drop launched. Pilots Mackay and Masucci flew ''U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VSS Unity VP-03
VP-03 (also referred to in some sources as PF04) was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS ''Unity'' which took place on 13 December 2018, piloted by Mark P. Stucky and co-piloted by Frederick W. "CJ" Sturckow. VSS ''Unity'' was carried aloft by the White Knight Two carrier plane before being released. The spacecraft reached an apogee of ; the flight satisfied the United States definition of spaceflight () but fell short of the Kármán line (), the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale definition. The flight was operated by Virgin Galactic, a private company led by Richard Branson who conducted a space tourism flight on 11 July 2021. It was the first crewed spaceflight from U.S. soil since the Space Shuttle mission STS-135 in 2011. Crew Flights are currently only by U.S Convention. Background During the 20th century, human spaceflight was conducted exclusively by countries and government agencies, such as NASA. This began to change during the ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soyuz MS-10
Soyuz MS-10 was a crewed Soyuz MS spaceflight that aborted shortly after launch on 11 October 2018 due to a failure of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle boosters. MS-10 was the 139th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. It was intended to transport two members of the Expedition 57 crew to the International Space Station. A few minutes after liftoff, the craft went into contingency abort due to a booster failure and had to return to Earth. By the time the contingency abort was declared, the launch escape system (LES) tower had already been ejected and the capsule was pulled away from the rocket using the solid rocket jettison motors on the capsule fairing. Both crew members, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, were recovered in good health. The MS-10 flight abort was the first instance of a Russian crewed booster accident in 35 years, since Soyuz T-10-1 exploded on the launch pad in September 1983. On 1 November 2018, Russian scientists released a video reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
X-15 Flight 3-65-97
X-15 Flight 3-65-97, also known as X-15 Flight 191 (due to being the 191st free flight of the X-15), was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the North American X-15 experimental spaceplane, carrying seven experiments to a peak altitude of , above NASA's definition of the start of space at but below the Kármán line definition at . The flight on November 15, 1967 ended in tragedy when the aircraft broke apart minutes after launch due to technical difficulties, killing the pilot Michael J. Adams and destroying the plane. Crew Mission overview Adams's seventh X-15 flight took place on November 15, 1967, in the number three aircraft. At 10:30 in the morning on November 15, the X-15-3 dropped away from underneath the wing of NB-52B mothership at over Delamar Dry Lake. Experiments and tests on this flight to 266,000 feet were: * Boost guidance experiment * Solar spectrum measurement * Ultraviolet plume detection * Micrometeorites collection * Wingtip pod deflection photography * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North American X-15
The North American X-15 is a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft. It was operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. The X-15's highest speed, , was achieved on 3October 1967, when William J. Knight flew at Mach6.7 at an altitude of , or 19.34miles. This set the official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a crewed, powered aircraft, which remains unbroken. During the X-15 program, 12pilots flew a combined 199flights. Of these, 8pilots flew a combined 13flights which met the Air Force spaceflight criterion by exceeding the altitude of , thus qualifying these pilots as being astronauts; of those 13flights, two (flown by the same civilian pilot) met the FAI definition () of outer space. The 5A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Origin NS-22
Blue Origin NS-22 was a sub-orbital spaceflight mission, operated by Blue Origin, which launched on 4 August 2022 using the New Shepard rocket. It was Blue Origin's sixth crewed flight and the twenty-second overall to go into space. Crew The NS-22 crew was nicknamed "Titanium Feather". The crew of six included Sara Sabry, who became the first Egyptian person in space, and Mário Ferreira, who became the first Portuguese person in space. Also onboard was Coby Cotton, one of the co-founders of American YouTube channel Dude Perfect. Cotton's flight was sponsored by MoonDAO, a cryptocurrency company. The crew also included American British explorer Vanessa O'Brien, who became the first woman to complete the Explorers' Extreme Trifecta, which involves travelling to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the summit of Mount Everest, and flying into outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Origin NS-21
Blue Origin NS-21 was a sub-orbital spaceflight mission, operated by Blue Origin, which launched on 4 June 2022 using the New Shepard rocket. It was Blue Origin's fifth crewed flight, and twenty-first overall to reach space. The mission was originally scheduled to launch on 20 May 2022. However, the flight was delayed due to a back-up system not meeting the "expectations for performance," and the new 4 June launch date was announced on 31 May 2022. Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke was a guest of Blue Origin attending the launch. Crew The NS-21 crew was nicknamed the "Crew of Natural Selection". The crew of six included Evan Dick, who previously flew onboard Blue Origin NS-19, making him the first person to fly on New Shepard twice. Also onboard was Katya Echazarreta, who became the first Mexican-born woman and youngest American woman to fly to space, and Victor Vescovo, a notable undersea explorer. The flight made Vescovo the first person to complete the Explorers' Extre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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