I have a lot to say about thisponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 2:59 pm So Bezos made it to space, too.
Now you have three companies that can take you up. Obviously, Space X is the most developed, being able to reach the ISS. Virgin Galactic seems to be the less, with a barely sub orbital capability.
What will they be able to offer? Musk insists that he will die in Mars, which I say is a possibility (he is young). What will Bezos do with Blue Origin is something I don't know. Branson's plane is the simplest but I don't see too many people paying $200K just to go up and be weightless. It can be simulated by the Vomit Comet easily.
If nobody sets up a Space Statin for tourists, will this be all for the next decades? Small, short flights above he atmosphere?
Media like to lazily group all three together. Actually they're nothing alike other than being rich.
Branson is a flamboyant guy who sees it all as a yet another adventure in life. He might serve as an inspiration, but otherwise Virgin Galactic has nothing to offer beyond these pleasure rides. There is also Virgin Orbit, but it's only a small satellite launcher with no larger ambitions as far as I know. Branson also the poorest of the three.
Bezos sees the New Shepard with which he flew today as a stepping stone to New Glenn, an orbit capable partially reusable rocket under development. The problem is that they're slow and technologically well behind Spacex. However, due to generous funding by Bezos I'm not ready to write them off. Hopefully the new rocket gets to fly by 2023.
Finally Elon Musk's Spacex is where the real innovation lies. They're technologically miles ahead not just of the other two, but also NASA and any other government space agency. They have developed the first ever partially reusable orbital class rocket (first stage lands propulsively) and are currently dominating private satellite launch business. Not focusing on space tourism, however they'll have one such flight going in September with 4 people. They'll stay up 3 days not 10 min! Of course currently very expensive. The holy grail of rocketry is a fully reusable two stage orbital rocket with no refurbishment between flights. No such thing has ever been built by anyone, but Musk is now reasonably close with his Starship. If all goes well first test flight from South Texas in a month or two. The ship stands 120 m tall, twice as powerful as Saturn V and could take up to 100 people to space (Space Shuttle max 7) and it might cost as little as 5 millions to launch (NASA's SLS will be 800 million). If he succeeds it will be a true revolution. Lot's of technical challenges still to overcome.