Anybody interested in space?

[jltrent]

Enter here for a free ride or pay $250k and get in line behind at least 600 people.

Win Two Seats on One of the FIRST Virgin Galactic Flights to Space

YOU AND A FRIEND WILL: Make history as you both live out your astronaut dreams on one of the FIRST Virgin Galactic commercial spaceflights Experience weightlessness and awe-inspiring views of Earth from space Join Sir Richard Branson for a personal VIP tour of Spaceport America Be flown to the...

www.omaze.com

Virgin Galactic unveils its next-generation spacecraft

For just the price of your home, you can experience space for a few minutes.

www.chron.com

Jeff Bezos is flying to space. Here's everything you need to know

Jeff Bezos, the richest man on the planet, is preparing for a rocket-powered, 11-minute 2,300-mph excursion to the edge of space. Here's what you need to know.

www.cnn.com

 

[greybeard]

Both of those are more like the 'edge' of space than what is generally considered 'space'.
The defining line between the Earth with it's atmosphere and 'space' is the Karman Line, which is 54 nautical miles or 62 statute miles, or 100km, or 330,000 feet) above mean sea level.

Branson in Virgin Galactic, a winged airplane, went only 53.5 miles up.
Bezos' Blue Origin is designed to go exactly 62 miles up, TO the Karman Line, stay there just a few (approx 3) minutes and then return to Earth.
'Technically' it's space but neither of the vehicles has or requires a robust heat shield, tho Bezos' New Shepard crew capsule does have minimal heat shielding.

There have been several manned aircraft that have passed the 62 mile Karman Line. X-15 did it in 1962, and twice in 1963 and Burt Rutan's Space Ship1 did in 2004.

Flight altitude record - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[farmerjan]

Have at it.... just not my thing. And yes, I like to fly, I was taking flying lessons years ago and planned to get my pilots liscense for small aircraft... but had a bad car wreck on the ground and after that didn't have the memory and recall from head trauma.... was afraid to keep after it. But space????? noooooo

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Now we know.........

 

[HDRider]

The question in my mind is what I would feel if Bezos blows up.

 

[jltrent]

That would be like on top of the World looking down on creation. Experience weightlessness and awe-inspiring views of Earth.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

The Challenger was enough. I never want to see anything like that again...God bless those who try the unknown..

 

[callmefence]

Fence don't fly..............

 

[TCRanch]

No.

 

[D2Cat]

Yes, I'm interested in space. I like as much space around me as possible, none of it at an altitude much greater then dirt!

 

[sstterry]

The question in my mind is what I would feel if Bezos blows up.

You would ask, who is his daughter/son and how can I hook my kids up!

Btw, these billionaires are only going up to sub-space and not outer-space.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Only?! Try it......

 

[greybeard]

Only?! Try it......

Space is hard.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I was just a kid when Challenger blew up. I remember it all over the news. Even as a kid I thought that was one of the most terrible things I've ever seen. The fact they aired those people being blown up on television at the time was a bit disturbing.

Never want to see that again and hope all goes well for these brave folks

 

[FungusProudKY31]

Just give me some elbow room and I'm satisfied. If space travel has not improved our efforts at national security then the government programs are a total waste. People are looking for a thrill and a way to blow money. It used to be trying to win a teddy bear or a goldfish at the county fair. Now it is just a bit more exclusive and expensive. "Looking for a winner" has not changed.

 

[jltrent]

He made it........four more people have been in space. The oldest and the youngest to ever go into space.

MSN

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I was happy for Ms. Funk. She waited a long time for this.

 

[greybeard]

I'm not a 'fan' of Bebos AT ALL, but the flight and return of both booster and capsule this morning was quite impressive.
(NOT impressive, was the all the 'cowboy' attire everyone was wearing for the photo op before and after the flight. I wonder how many of them there knows which end of a cow gets up first)

This was definitely the biggest thing to happen in Van Horn since Confederate forces took the settlement from the yankees in 1861.

 

[slick4591]

I ran across the launch this morning and watched it. I kept wondering what the big deal was and what the purpose was. Didn't realize it was just a rich persons entertainment ride. Note that I think all this space travel is a bunch of crap to start with.

 

[HDRider]

In a news conference after the launch, Bezos made a special dedication. "I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer," Bezos said, "because you paid for all of this."

On Tuesday, after his 11-minute launch to the edge of space, Bezos gave $200 million in "courage and civility awards." The sum is split between chef José Andrés and CNN personality and social entrepreneur Van Jones to be given to charities and nonprofits of their choice.

"I met all these young radical people of color -- I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, 'This is what I need to be a part of.' I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary. I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th. By August, I was a communist ~ Van Jones