You’ve spent years exploring our planet and find yourself wanting and needing more. Rest easy knowing that these companies have their sights set on space travel. This venture is known widely as the modern space race. These companies are operating with the mission of creating viable space travel options in reusable space vehicles. Their spirit of competition has them competing against each other to become the go-to company for viable space travel.
Blue Origin
From the mind of the founder of Amazon, Blue Origin is Jeff Bezos’ foray into space travel. They cite that they’re “Developing technologies to enable human access to space at dramatically lower cost and increased reliability.” Bezos has a track record of building one of the most successful online retailers ever. He is carrying the same sensibilities to Blue Origin that helped Amazon become the powerhouse we know. Remember, this is also the man who had his employees repurpose old doors as desks to keep Amazon’s expenses low. With this mentality, he’s likely to help people to whom space travel was only a dream, a reality that they may be able to experience.
Virgin Galactic
Under the watchful eye of Virgin Group’s Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic along with their sister companies, The Spaceship Company and Virgin Orbit, “are developing and operating a new generation of space vehicles to open space for everyone.” Dubbed the world’s first commercial Spaceline, Virgin Galactic is poised to appeal to the adventurous traveler who is already a fan of Virgin Airlines.
The first Virgin Galactic spaceship to enter service is VSS Unity. Built by The Spaceship Company, Unity and her sister spaceships will, for the first time, offer everyone the opportunity to become private astronauts and experience the wonder of space for themselves. Our spaceships will also offer the research community a unique platform for space-based science.
SpaceX
As a company that designs, manufactures, and also launches the world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has their sights set on more than space travel, they’d like to see humans living on other planets. With that lofty goal in mind, they continue to garner worldwide attention with each historic milestone they achieve.
In 2017, SpaceX successfully achieved the first reflight of an orbital class rocket – a historic milestone on the road to full and rapid rocket reusability.” They also add that they continue “to work toward one of its key goals—developing fully and rapidly reusable rockets, a feat that will transform space exploration by delivering highly reliable vehicles at radically reduced costs.
StratoLaunch Systems
StratoLaunch Systems has focused on increasing the efficiency of space travel and also in creating ultra-efficient crafts similar in size to a jumbo jet. Founded in 2011 by Paul G. Allen, their vision states “We believe that normalizing access to low Earth orbit (LEO) has the potential to redefine our lives by creating more opportunities for commercial, philanthropic and governmental organizations to collect rich and actionable data and drive advancements in science, research, and technology from space.” With six Boeing 747 engines, the Stratolaunch “is the world’s largest aircraft by wingspan and is the largest all-composite plane ever built.”
These companies and a handful of others are keeping the modern space race alive and well. So, you may be taking off on a trip to your new life beyond the stratosphere. If you’re not quite ready for space, maybe start a little smaller. Try a visit to the United Arab Emirates for a ride in one of the autonomous air taxis in Dubai.
