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Sunday, March 13, 2016

Commercial Space: Here to Stay or to Pass?

Space tourism has been a growing form or tourism since the 1960's. It began shortly after or even during the end of WWII during introduction of jet aircraft. This led to high altitude competition and speed records far beyond the speed of sound. All of these endeavors were new, reaching new altitudes and new speeds far surpassing any speed a person has gone before. In the advent of the Cold War the Soviet Union and the United States began the Space Race to get the first man into space and then beyond, to the Moon. We (everybody) had no knowledge of how the human body would react to the new environment of space, but we found a way. In the 1960's we had the Mercury missions and the Apollo Mission, being the most well known. Soon after with the knowledge from those missions and that of the X-15 the space shuttle was introduced. Ever since the retirement of the space shuttle we have been looking at new ways and new missions for future spaceflight. In the 1980's the commercial side of spaceflight was regulated with the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984 in regards to regulation spacecraft launches, flights and reentry (FAA, In Office of Commercial Space). Modern commercial spaceflight is seeing the implementation of commercial spaceflight with paying passengers, where passengers can board a space-plane and take their turn at experiencing the world from above 327,000 ft.

The industry isn't greatly regulated other than the fact that the FAA has said that it has a say in everything being done in the industry such as possibly creating new or alternate requirements for a specific mission. It is a hard thing for the FAA to regulate being an entirely new industry. There will certainly be a learning curve  as the industry continues to grow.

I see commercial spaceflight growing very quickly in the next 35 years and even more beyond that. Passenger travel into space is here to stay. I believe it will be much more than something to check off of your bucket list, with the possibility of cooperation between governmental space programs and commercial programs to explore even more of space. It is even stated that use of the International Space Station is encouraged in Subchapter II, Section 50111 in Title 51 of the U.S. Code (Commercialization of Space Station).

The minimum requirements for becoming an astronaut may surprise you. You will need a bachelors degree in engineering, science or similar degrees, U.S. citizenship, 1,000 hrs of PIC jet time and to pass a pretty strict medical examination. These are only the minimums though as you most likely will need much more experience before you get accepted (Harris, How do I become).

Commercial spaceflight is going to grow very quickly by 2050 and even more so space exploration. I am very curious to where we will be able to send people in my lifetime and as to what will be discovered about the universe with it.


References


Commercialization of Space Station (n.d.). In Subtitle V—Programs Targeting Commercial Opportunities. Retrieved from http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml;jsessionid=9BF6A4E8B8A5FE534EE9ADD6EC06E1FE?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title51-subtitle5&saved=L3ByZWxpbUB0aXRsZTUxL3N1YnRpdGxlNS9jaGFwdGVyNTA5%7CZ3JhbnVsZWlkOlVTQy1

FAA, . (n.d.). In Office of Commercial Space Transportation Regulations. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/regulations/

Harris, W. (n.d.). How do I become an astronaut?. In How Stuff Works. Retrieved March 13, 2016, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/question5341.htm

2 comments:

  1. It will be interesting to see if commercial space industries become a commonality in the future. I think that the shear costs and safety concerns will prevent it from becoming widely available in our life time. It only takes one incident to ruin public perception.

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  2. I think that what we are seeing now is just the start of the commercialization of space. Right now they are able to sell that there have been less than 50 people that have ever been into space. You could be the 77th person ever to visit space and so on. But as it gets more popular and trusted, maybe we will see an expansion into orbit flights and maybe even the moon trips or space hotels. We have to start somewhere.

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