Commercial space travel once sounded like a concept from a sci-fi novel. But companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin have revolutionized the space race, ushering in a new era of space tourism.
Moreover, the private sector is more willing to take risks than government agencies. As such, it has accelerated the development of cutting-edge technology, bringing us closer to space than ever before.
Although part of the same industry, the three companies have different offerings that could shape the future of space exploration. Read on to learn more.
A Breakdown of the Space Race
The space race of the mid-20th century saw two global superpowers, the U.S. and the USSR, competing for political superiority. Although the competition originated from a nuclear weapons race, it quickly entered the realm of space exploration breakthroughs. Both countries employed the generation’s best minds to develop new technologies and reach milestones in record time.
After many failed attempts and delays, the USSR became the first nation to launch an artificial satellite into orbit with Sputnik 1. Although the satellite burned up post-launch, it gathered valuable data. Only three years after launching Sputnik 1, the Soviets achieved another victory by sending Yuri Gagarin into space. He became the first man to orbit the Earth. The Soviets kept up the relentless pace and claimed more firsts, including sending a spacecraft to the Moon through the Luna program.
But the United States wasn’t far behind, and its determination paid off when the country finally won the space race in 1969. On July 20, the U.S. landed the Apollo 11 spacecraft on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent approximately six hours exploring the Moon’s surface, and then Apollo’s safe return to Earth demonstrated America’s space superiority.
As political relationships began to stabilize, the two superpowers signed an agreement in 1972 to work together on the Apollo-Soyuz project. The historic decision quashed the decades-long rivalry, highlighting cooperation as a vital aspect of space exploration.
After tensions eased, space missions became more considered. However, interest in learning what lies in the extraterrestrial sphere was as strong as ever. As a result, the United States introduced the NASA Space Shuttle in the 1980s, and it remained in operation until 2011, ferrying different payload types into orbit. Although Russia’s space program faced funding problems after the breakup of the USSR, the country has successfully expanded its ventures.
Industry leaders have doubled their efforts to explore the new space frontier. The Voyager 1 spacecraft rocketed out of the solar system at an impressive 38,000 miles per hour. Moreover, researchers hope to gather valuable data from rovers exploring Mars and better understand the red planet.
But the space industry has changed significantly during the last two decades, with new players entering the scene. In addition, private investors are changing the landscape, pushing the limits, and making space tourism a reality.
The Billionaire Space Race
As the private sector takes over developing space technology, government funding is no longer a problem, clearing the path for more ambitious projects.
This shift in the space industry has become known as the “billionaire space race,” with Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson becoming its most well-known faces.
Musk’s SpaceX has so far focused on manufacturing reusable rockets and launching low-cost satellites into LEO. However, one of the company’s primary goals is to eventually transport passengers to Mars and colonize the planet.
Branson’s and Bezos’s aims are more immediately realizable in many ways. While Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Bezos’s Blue Origin use similar technologies to advance suborbital travel, their methods are drastically different.
Suborbital Tourism
In the arena of suborbital tourism, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are the leading contenders.
Both companies employ rocket-powered systems to support up to six passengers per flight.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo spacecraft, however, boasts a unique launch protocol. It’s operated by two pilots and attached underneath its carrier, the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft. The jet-powered carrier ascends from the runway, rising to a 40,000-feet altitude. It then releases the spacecraft. For a few moments, the SpaceShipTwo free-falls before activating its rocket motor and rising to approximately 295,000 feet or 90 kilometers. As the vehicle slowly backflips, passengers enjoy an exhilarating experience and float in microgravity. The joy ride ends when the spacecraft lands in New Mexico.
In contrast, Blue Origin follows more traditional launch practices. The company uses a 60-foot booster with a curved cap to launch its New Shepard rocket. The vehicle reaches an altitude of roughly 330,000 feet or 100 kilometers before the cap separates near the highest point. The capsule remains in microgravity for a few minutes before returning to Earth. A set of parachutes slow its descent and ensure a safe landing in the desert of West Texas. Additionally, the company lands, retrieves, and reuses the boosters for future launches.
However, rolling out commercial flights hasn’t gone smoothly for Virgin Galactic. Before marking the start of its commercial services, the company conducted several test rounds with four pilots and a test passenger. Finally, Branson entered the rocket on July 11, 2021, and rose to an altitude of roughly 86 kilometers.
While the British billionaire fulfilled his dream, reports of a mishap soon emerged. Namely, it was suspected that the rocket briefly went off-course when descending. The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) promptly investigated and concluded that the spacecraft deviated from the pre-determined airspace. They also stated that Virgin Galactic had implemented changes in its operation, allowing the company to continue its commercial services. However, despite receiving the green light from the FAA, Virgin Galactic won’t resume commercial flights until the second half of 2022.
This setback hasn’t discouraged would-be space travelers. The company has been taking bookings for years, with approximately 600 people buying seats, ranging from $200,000 to $250,000. However, the prices could increase as Virgin Galactic perfects its suborbital technology.
Bezos’s Blue Origin has completed five New Shepard tourist flights. The most recent flight took place in June 2022, taking four wealthy thrill-seekers and two contest winners to the borders of space. The ride lasted a little over 10 minutes, three of which the passengers spent in weightlessness.
Blue Origin has been vague when discussing its prices, only suggesting that there is a considerable demand on the market. Likely, the cost of a thrill ride aboard the New Shepard is in the realm of millions. The company auctioned off the first seat for a whopping $28 million at an event with more than 7,000 participants. Blue Origin is confident its commercial services can secure a steady customer pipeline.
Orbital Tourism
While suborbital travel covers an altitude of 330,000 feet or around 100 kilometers, orbital tourism involves ascending to 1.3 million feet or roughly 400 kilometers. Another notable difference is the duration of the flight. Orbital travel treats passengers to several minutes in space, and suborbital travel can last for days or weeks. Until recently, orbital flights were a rarity. For example, only a few orbital trips took passengers aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station.
Then, SpaceX took center stage in the summer of 2020. In a historic collaboration between NASA and SpaceX, the company’s spacecraft completed the Demo-2 mission, becoming the first private entity to send astronauts into orbit. But the company had been developing its commercial flight program long before NASA became a customer. Before the mission, SpaceX signed two contracts with companies looking to send paying clients into space. While astronauts remain in space for months, paying customers will spend no more than 10 days above the Earth.
The first civilian astronaut crew boarded SpaceX’s Inspiration4 capsule in September 2021 and completed a mission that spanned three days. Billionaire Jacob Isaacman was the mission’s benefactor and paid for all four seats. Although neither SpaceX nor Isaacman have disclosed the sum involved, some reports estimate it at around $200 million.
Notably, Musk’s orbital ambitions don’t end at tourist trips. The SpaceX founder has expressed the desire to send passengers to Mars in the near future, preserving humankind and creating a multi-planetary race. At first glance, the idea seems lofty, yet the Mars program has been in the works for years. Moreover, given that the company’s only orbital tourism rival is Boeing, SpaceX has found a niche few competitors have dared to enter. As the years pass, we’ll see whether Musk’s ambitions will come to fruition.
Blue Origin vs. Virgin Galactic vs. SpaceX: The Differences Explained
Motivation and Goals
SpaceX and Virgin Galactic have both cited the sheer thrill of space travel as their primary driving force. In contrast, Blue Origin is focusing its efforts on preserving our planet’s resources. It intends to accomplish this goal by creating and launching space vehicles where millions of people can live and work.
Blue Origin also plans to deploy satellite constellations into orbit and deliver a stable internet connection to all areas on Earth. SpaceX has already ticked off this goal with its Starlink mini-satellites. Starlink internet is available only in parts of Canada and the U.S., but it should expand its services worldwide toward the end of 2022.
Space Tourism Projects
Currently, suborbital tourism is the primary interest area for Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. Their most highly publicized projects involve taking passengers to the end of the Earth’s atmosphere, where they can experience weightlessness and take in stunning views of the planet’s curvature.
Although Jeff Bezos has hinted that he has more plans for the company, he has yet to release a detailed timeline or provide more information about Blue Origin’s future endeavors.
On the other hand, Musk has been vocal in describing what the future may hold for SpaceX. The company’s top-priority projects include the Moon and Mars programs.
The “Back to the Moon” package should become available sometime in 2023. The rocket company promises the Moon trip will be the ultimate galactic vacation. So far, the personalized moon trip has one confirmed customer, Yusaku Maezava, one of Japan’s most prominent fashion moguls.
Maezava signed up for the package in 2018, paying an undisclosed sum. Considering the prices of other SpaceX offerings, the cost of the Moon trip is likely to be far from trivial. The company has been working on constructing prototypes of the Big Falcon rocket and the Starship spaceship that will take the Japanese mogul to the Moon. If all test rounds yield good results, the first trip could occur as early as 2023.
Another bold move from SpaceX is its Mars program. While Musk received some backlash regarding the impracticability of the plan, the company has kept working on developing viable transportation infrastructure. The core tenet of the strategy is to cut the costs of traveling to Mars and enable the creation of the first human settlements. Before humans step on the planet, many pathfinder spacecraft will already have transported supplies, equipment, and habitats. While skeptics claim that the entire project remains in the conceptual realm, Musk tweeted in 2022 that the first passengers could reach Mars by 2029.
Regarding the number and complexity of its projects, SpaceX rises above Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin.
Altitude
How high a spacecraft has gone is another crucial indicator of success in space exploration. In this category, SpaceX again emerges as the victor. It has sent passengers to an altitude of 585 kilometers or 363 miles. This impressive altitude surpasses the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station. Additionally, it’s the farthest any person has traveled away from Earth since the ending of the Apollo Moon project in the 1970s.
Second place goes to Blue Origin, with the Jeff Bezos flight ascending to 66.5 miles. Finally, Virgin Galactic comes in last, with a maximum 53.5-mile altitude.
Note that the globally recognized space boundary lies at 62 miles. This point is often called the Karaman line. If we follow this standard, it disqualifies Virgin Galactic from the space race. But the company takes advantage of a handy loophole. The U.S. sees the 50-mile point as the space boundary, allowing Virgin Galactic to stay in the running.
Vehicles
SpaceX is several steps ahead of the competition regarding vehicle types. It has developed four vehicles capable of carrying payloads and humans into orbit. These include the Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9 rockets, the Crew Dragon capsule, and the Starship.
The New Shepard is Blue Origin’s only operational vehicle. Reportedly, several other spacecraft are in development. The company has yet to announce when the anticipated Blue Moon Lunar Lander, New Armstrong, and New Glenn vehicles will embark on their first missions.
Virgin Galactic departs from the rocket-powered launches its competitors employ. Instead, the company uses a spaceplane named the SpaceShipTwo. It’s attached to a carrier plane that launches the SpaceShipTwo mid-air. Virgin Galactic currently has only one spaceplane and intends to produce a new model called the SpaceShipThree soon.
Automation
Blue Origin and SpaceX use fully automated vehicles. Both have designed capsules that separate from the rocket during the ascent and return to the Earth using parachutes.
Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane doesn’t rely on any form of automation. Instead, pilots control it manually, guiding it on its journey to space and landing it like a conventional airplane.
Velocity
The Virgin Galactic spaceplane boasts a maximum velocity of 2,300 mph, while Blue Origin’s New Shepard’s top recorded speed is 2,234 mph. But SpaceX’s vehicles far outperform them. During orbital flights, they have reached impressive speeds of 24,600 mph.
Flight Duration
Blue Origin’s longest flight duration sits at a humble 10 minutes, from launching the spacecraft to returning to Earth. Virgin Galactic scores higher on this front, as the spaceplane spends around two and a half hours in flight. But only 15 minutes are spent in space.
SpaceX raises the bar. The September 2021 mission funded by Isaacman lasted for three days, and the civilian crew orbited the Earth several times. It’s not hard to imagine SpaceX might eventually introduce multi-year trips.
Safety
All three companies ran into roadblocks and safety issues while developing and testing their technologies. Fortunately, these problems have never threatened public safety. SpaceX and Blue Origin have a solid safety record and never suffered personnel losses.
However, this sentiment doesn’t apply to Virgin Galactic. Accidents in 2007 and 2014 led to the loss of four employees, leaving four more critically injured. Although Branson’s 2021 suborbital flight went off-course, it managed to land safely. Nevertheless, these incidents have raised questions about the company’s safety protocols.
Pricing
Buying a seat aboard the Virgin Galactic spaceplane will initially cost between $200,000-$250,000. However, due to Branson’s flight and renewed interest, prices could be as high as $400,000.
SpaceX and Blue Origin are less transparent about their pricing, but a seat aboard their flights likely costs millions of dollars. Traveling on a SpaceX rocket is undoubtedly the most expensive, given the duration of the flight.
Examining the Customer Pool
Currently, it’s believed that approximately 2 million people can afford this luxury experience. In fact, a recent survey found that over 2.4 million individuals with a net worth exceeding $5 million are interested in flying to the edge of space. As all three companies are looking to cut costs and make space travel more accessible, the customer pool could expand as prices decrease. Significant price reductions will likely occur after years of secure performance.
What the Future Holds
There are no losers in the billionaire space race. On the contrary, the future looks bright for Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX, as the companies have captured the attention of millions who eagerly anticipate their next moves. Although space tourism may take decades to become as commonplace as airplane travel, the rocket giants seem intent on making bold strides in the coming years.