Blue Origin Will Finally Fly Passengers to the Edge of Space in July

[soothsayer]

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Blue Origin Will Finally Fly Passengers to the Edge of Space in July - Universe Today https://universetoday.com/151155/blue-origin-will-finally-fly-passengers-to-the-edge-of-space-in-july/… @universetoday @storybywill



Snip

As they indicate on their website, the flight will take off from the company’s launch facility (Launch Site One) located near the town of Van Horn in West Texas. Once the launcher reaches an altitude of 6.7 km (22,000 feet), the crew capsule (dubbed RSS First Step Crew Capsule) will separate from the first-stage booster and the crew will experience about ten minutes of weightlessness.

A minute later, the capsule will reach its apogee of about 100 km (62 mi) above sea level, or just past the Kármán Line. The capsule will then deploy its parachutes and conduct a soft landing, the entire experience lasting about ten minutes. According to the Terms and Conditions of the auction, “the Astronaut” (the auction winner) will be required to undergo training at a Blue Origin facility – most likely the one located in Kent, Washington, or Culberson County, Texas.

They also specify physical requirements, include a height and weight range of 5’0” and 110 lbs to 6’4” and 223 lbs. During the flight, the Astronaut will also be responsible for fastening and unfastening themselves in less than 15 seconds during and after the ~3 minutes of weightlessness. They must also be capable of withstanding the threefold increase in weight that will accompany the 2 minutes of powered ascent, and the 5.5-fold increase that will accompany descent into the atmosphere.


Last, but not least, they need to be comfortable sitting in a capsule for up to 90 minutes (40 minutes planned) without a bathroom break. There’s no indication how much the ticket could go for just yet, but this while auctioning idea is an interesting approach. This set it apart somewhat from other space tourism ventures like Virgin Galactic, which charges $250,000 a seat for future flights on its suborbital spaceplane, the VSS Unity.

[Renew Deal]

1. I want to live on Ceres with Joseph Miller

[RandiFan1290]

2. Mannequin Skywalker's ride to space onboard Crew Capsule 2.0

[soothsayer]

3. Aww, he missed out on weightlessness for not unbuckling

That’s really cool

[hunter]

4. For similar thrills bungee jumping costs a lot less...

... and has a much smaller environmental footprint.

I've been bungee jumping.