Well, SpaceX isn't the only game in town when it comes to private spacecraft development; I've decided to convert this thread to a more general private spaceflight thread for an aggregation and discussion of news relating to private spaceflight.
Companies, Links, and Summaries:
SpaceX;
http://www.spacex.com/ or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX Successfully docked with ISS; well funded. Their successful rockets include the
Falcon 1[Success; to orbit 7/08], and the
Falcon 9[Success; to ISS 5/12], and use liquid fuel (
RP-1/LOX). In dev: human-rated flight with Dragon capsule, high transport capacity with the
Falcon Heavy, and fully reusable craft.
Orbital Sciences
http://www.orbital.com/ Their rocket is the Antares, hoping to compete with SpaceX; already have a contract with NASA for ISS resupply. First successful launch on April 21, 2013.
Virgin Galactic;
http://www.virgingalactic.com/ or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Galactic Virgin Galactic is well known for winning the Ansari X Prize with their sub-orbital craft. Their craft include
SpaceShipOne[Success; sub-orbital 6/04] and
SpaceShipTwo[Testing; sub-orbital]. The have plans for SpaceShipThree, a sub-orbital craft capable of rapid long-range travel, though for now their emphasis is on sub-orbital space tourism. $200,000 is current ticket price for SpaceShipTwo craft, with 500 tickets sold thus far
Blue Origin;
http://www.blueorigin.com/index.html or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin Blue Origin is known for being mysterious. They aim to create a sub-orbital VTVL craft, currently named
New Shepard. They had some successes, and apparently a vehicle totalled in their most recent flight; but again, they are quite secretive, and so video of such can't even be found on youtube it seems; though those videos of their craft which are there are quite cool; it looks a bit ufo-esque.
XCOR;
http://www.xcor.com/ or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCOR_Aerospace Aiming for a similar market as Virgin Galactic. Their craft is the
Lynx Mk1[development/testing soon] prototype, with Mk2 designed and Mk3 in the process of being designed. The Lynx is much smaller than Virgin Galactic's craft, with a design for only 1 passenger but with a much more affordable ticket price, estimated at a mere $95,000. It had a 2 year delay due to a design rework being needed, but Mk1 testing is expected to start testing later this year, with operation flights expected by 2015. (See? I told you I would be adding more Lynx!
)
Bigelow Aerospace;
http://bigelowaerospace.com/ or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Aerospace Creating modular, inflatable spacecraft/spacestations more durable and lightweight than the ISS. They currently have 2 orbiting modules,
Genesis 1[Success; orbiting 7/06] and
Genesis 2[Success; orbiting 6/07]; both unmanned test craft. They are currently developing the
BA330, with plans for construction of space stations as early as 2015. They're essentially ready to start sending them up whenever the launch capability is ready; and
have signed off with SpaceX for around 2015-ish.Armadillo Aerospace;
http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillo_Aerospace Relatively small-scale group founded by John Carmack of Quake fame; extremely low-budget for spacecraft development, with under $10 million thus far, and is sort of the garage-band of spaceflight. They've created numerous craft, mostly small scale VTVL lander-type craft, with their most recent craft being a small tube-rocket called Stiga. It reached approximately 42km in it's first flight, then crash-landed in the second, destroying the craft.
NOTE: The companies and rockets listed here are not a comprehensive list! Problem is, there are many failed rocket ventures for each successful one; I've avoided putting those here, and have almost assuredly missed some viable or successful ventures, as there are more ventures than I care to fully research. If you know of any good ones not listed here, please name them and I'll look into them.
Video links:
SpaceX Falcon 9 ISS launchSpaceX Falcon 1 Test Launch 5Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo first flight testing its featheringVirgin Galactic's SpaceShipOne second X-Prize flightBlue Origin's New Shepard, short test flightBlue Origin's first test flightArmadillo Aerospace Stiga flight 1Armadillo Aerospace VTVL flightArmadillo Aerospace shows the world the ideal way of cooking hotdogs
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Topic: Private Spaceflight Thread: Antares rocket launch successful (Read 27580 times)