Science/Tech

Want to take a trip that is Out of this World? Space Tourism Can Make that Possible, Literally

By Kanika Gupta | Update Date: Feb 22, 2016 09:46 AM EST

With Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo just a month away from being rolled out, will be the first such vehicle that will give the tourists a taste of the outer space. After 15 ½ months later, when its first prototype was perished in a test flight, the makers are looking forward to its launch.

As reported by Japan Times, Space tourism companies are hell bent on taking the tourists on a trip to the outer space and are already employing designs that can include capsules to high-altitude balloons. Let's look at some projects that are currently underway:

Virgin Galactic

The most sought after space tourism program, this commercial space-line has been founded by Sir Richard Branson. His SpaceShipTwo is a winged rocket plane designed to be flown by two pilots that can carry up to six passengers in a single trip. The spacecraft will take the tourists inside the suborbital trajectory to an altitude of 62 miles (100 Kilometers), an internationally accepted space boundary.

Blue Origin

Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is working on a rocket that can take six-passengers in a capsule topped on a vertical-takeoff rocket. As it enters the space, the capsule detaches itself from the booster rocket and descends with the help of parachutes without moving into an orbit mode around the earth. Bezos took it a level higher when he made his capsule reusable, says Phys.org

XCOR Aerospace

A rocket name Lynx has been developed for years that will be able to make number of flights in a day, with one pilot and a passenger onboard. Lynx plans to take off from a runway, go up to the space edge altitude and then glide back into the runway landing. XCOR also wants to plan flights that goes beyond the 100kms.

WORLD VIEW

This company from Arizona plans to take the passengers above an altitude of 100,000 feet in a capsule and then bring them down via a helium balloon. This trip, approximately 19 miles high, would take you "near space" and give you a breathtaking view of the Earth far below while dodging the G-force stress that is experienced in a rocket flight, Fay Observer says

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