Space travel picked up a new momentum in 2021, as billionaires race to show who has the best strategy for offering alternatives to off-Earth tourism. With Virgin Galactic was Richard Branson; Jeff Bezos, with Blue Origin; SpaceX, by Elon Musk, with the first civilian flight in history; and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, which is making the first space film in history.
Check out 10 main historical events in space exploration below. For 2022, the agenda is already full and should include a number of initiatives.
1. Starship Launches Test Flight and Lands
After four attempts to land, SpaceX’s prototype SN-15 spacecraft managed to cover the full distance and successfully land on May 5 this year.
The date coincides with the 60th anniversary of the first American manned spacecraft, which saw NASA astronaut Alan Shepard reach suborbital space.
SpaceX hopes to use Starship for various tasks in the Solar System, especially in manned missions to Mars.
2. Richard Branson and the First Tourist Mission
On July 11, Virgin Galactic made its first operational voyage flight. It was “an experience of a lifetime,” said founder Richard Branson, who was part of the crew during the live stream of the trip that took off just above the limits of space.
The four-person crew and two pilots of the Unity 22 test flight took off from Spaceport America’s New Mexico facility.
Virgin Galactic’s future flights, however, were due to a Federal Aviation Administration investigation into an i.Incident reported that occurred during space flight, The agency will analyze whether the vehicle deviated from its path while returning to Earth.
3. Instead of Jeff Bezos
Just days later, Blue Origin took its founder Jeff Bezos and three other space tourists aboard its first manned spacecraft on July 20, including Mercury 13 aviator Wally Funk.
Because the system flies autonomously, no pilot was required to be on board – although Funk is highly qualified as an aviator – when the New Shepard system took off from Blue Origin’s launch site near the west Texas town of Van Horn. had taken flight.
The two billionaires denied any competition between the companies. However, the Blue Origin broadcast featured several comments about the company flying above the Carman line, an internationally recognized spaceflight frontier where Virgin Galactic flights do not reach.
4. World’s tallest rocket
prototype of spacex spacecraft (SN-20) – also known as the “Super Heavy” booster – was first tested on August 6, setting a new record for the world’s tallest rocket during preparation for an orbital mission.
One-hour tuning controls raised the volume to 120 meters (395 ft), faster than NASA’s Saturn V (or Moon rocket), which was 110 meters (363 ft) high. The “Super Heavy” alone is 70 meters long and Starship SN4 has another 50 meters tall.
The next big step for the Starship rocket is an orbital launch, due in 2022, and awaiting environmental review by the Federal Aviation Administration and government groups. SpaceX founder Elon Musk has repeatedly delayed launch estimates because of revisions.
5. Mission Inspiration 4 Takes Four Civilians to Space
Led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, Inspiration 4 was the first manned orbital mission without professional astronauts on board—the Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin flights were suborbital missions.
Aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, the privately chartered spaceflight took off on Sept. 15 and flew into Earth orbit on a nearly three-day mission.
The crew of SpaceX’s Inspiration 4 mission
Image: Disclosure/SpaceX
Isaacman, a pilot, commanded the flight and was accompanied by paramedic Hayley Arsinaux, data engineer Chris Sambrowski, and geoscientist and science communications specialist Sean Proctor.
Sambrowski and Proctor won their seats in competitions to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Arceneaux is an employee of the hospital. The mission hit the goal of fundraising for St. Jude.
6. Star Trek Away from Earth Captain James T. Kirk
Jeff Bezos’ space company re-entered suborbital space with a manned mission on October 13, starring William Shatner, an actor who played Captain James T. Known for playing Kirk.
Willian Shatner on the way to Blue Origin spaceflight
Imagem: Handout via Blue Origin/Reuters
With the trip, Shatner became the oldest person to travel to space at the age of 90, surpassing Wally Funk, who participated in the first Blue Origin flight, and is 82 years old.
7. Movie in Space
Amidst a race for unprecedented space achievements, a Russian film crew with actress Yulia Peresild and producer Klim Shipenko landed on the International Space Station (ISS) on October 17 along with cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky of the Russian Federal Space Corporation Roscosmos. film in space.
Actress Yulia Peresild has been removed from the capsule that brought her back to Earth after landing in Kazakhstan
Image: Reuters
The film, titled “Desafio”, translated into Portuguese, portrays the fictional story of a surgeon (Peresild) who is sent to the station to perform emergency surgery on an astronaut.
The effort is a joint production by Roscosmos, the Russian television station Channel One, and Yellow, Black and White Studios. With a small crew in space, Shipenko took on a variety of behind-the-scenes roles as a director, makeup artist, sound editor, and filmmaker.
8. Focus on “Good Morning America”
Blue Origin continued to look for ways to draw attention and visibility to its missions. Most recently, on December 11, as the chief guest was Michael Strahan, host of the North American program “Good Morning America” and retired football player.
He said the experience was incredible and told Bezos that he wanted to go back to space. “Touchdown now has a whole new meaning!!”, he wrote on Twitter.
Another guest was Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of NASA astronaut Shepard, who named Blue Origin’s New Shepard system. The other four members of the mission paid for their seats.
9. Japanese Billionaire on Space Station
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa waves before aboard the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft ahead of launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Image: Kirill Kudryavtsev / pool / AFP
One of the last space trips this year was that of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which carried Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, video producer Yojo Hirano and astronaut Alexander Misurkin to the International Space Station. He took off on 8 December for a 12-day mission.
The businessman, who is CEO of Start Today and founder of online clothing retailer ZOZO, bought seats for himself and Hirano, who documented the mission and participated in some health and performance surveys. He also made the first delivery of uber eats in space in flight. The trio returned to earth on 19 December.
10. Axioms Location Prepares mission for early 2022
at the beginning of the year, axiom Location Unveiled its customers for the first private and powered mission to the International Space Station (ISS). mission call axiom 1 (ax-1), the flight was designed in line with a commercial agreement with the US space agency NASA.
to launch into a spacecraft Python, gives SpaceX, is planned:
- Larry Connor, an American real estate and technology entrepreneur;
- Ethan stibbe, a businessman and former Israeli fighter pilot;
- Mark pathy, a Canadian investor and philanthropist;
- Michael lopez-alegria, a veteran NASA astronaut with three missions, currently axiom Location,
in June, SpaceX It is on axiom announced an agreement to fly three more missions to the orbital complex after ax-1, On December 20, NASA officially released the crew for the voyage, which should launch on February 21, 2022.
*With information received from space
