Space exploration is widely known to be government funded. After successfully making trips to space, civilian space travel had always been an idea. The 1980s were a big year for the space industry. In 1984, Charles D. Walker became the first non-government employed astronaut with the help of the company McDonnell Douglas (Blum 2015). The government funded, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had a program called Teacher in Space which allowed a lucky person the chance to take part in a space mission without holding a career in the government. The Challenger was the rocket that would take this participant into space. In 1986, the Challenger exploded in flight killing all those on board and NASA shut down the program that allowed civilians to travel to space (Blum 2015). The concept of civilian "space tourism" really took off after the X-Prize Foundation based in St. Louis was offering a ten million dollar reward for the first private company to build a spaceship with the ability to carry three people to altitudes of sixty-two miles in 1995 (Antczak 2016). This same company would have to be able to do this twice within two weeks to prove the spaceship is reusable (Antczak 2016). According to John Antczak, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale marks the sixty-two mile mark as the boundary between Earth and space or the difference between astronautics and aeronautics (2016). The race was on to be the first company that could do this. A number of companies were formed in the years following the creation of X-Prize. Virgin Galactic was one such company formed in 1999 by Richard Branson (Howell 2016). Richard Branson invested in Scaled Composites to create the spaceship that was used to win the X-Prize September and October of 2004 (Howell 2016). Following this huge accomplishment, Virgin Galactic said that it would open its doors to civilian space travel by 2007 (Howell 2016). Several setbacks forced the company to keep pushing back the start up date. For example, Virgin Galactic had a deadly mishap on October 31, 2014, when their spaceship named "SpaceShipTwo" exploded in flight due to pilot error (Davies 2015). Another company called SpaceX, has had numerous problems with their rockets. In 2015 their rocket, "Falcon 9" exploded just after launch and in September of this year they had another mishap with their rocket exploding on the launchpad (Fecht 2016).
The regulations regarding commercial space industry for the private sector were created in 1984 with the Commercial Space Launch Act. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, this legislation gave the "responsibility for licensing, regulating, and promoting the private sector space industry was given to the Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA 2010)." Essentially, this law requires any U.S. resident to get a license in order to launch a rocket. Another import legislation was the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004. Under this law, passengers aboard a spacecraft must be informed of all the dangers associated with space flight and the passenger must give consent and sign a form (FAA 2010). This amendment also created the requirements for general training and requirements of crew members (FAA 2010). The U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 was another important law passed regarding the commercial space industry. This law gives the commercial space industry 8 years of freedom from regulatory oversight (Stockton 2015). The reason for this rule making was regulatory oversight makes it very hard to innovate in space technology. The commercial space industry is very young and accidents are bound to happen. If there was more regulatory framework, accidents would be huge drawbacks. The rule making doesn't say that there will be no regulatory oversight, but simply limited oversight (Stockton 2015). I think this bill is very important because space exploration is very difficult financially as it is. Once you add an extensive regulatory framework, it becomes very hard to innovate technology and the industry as a whole. Therefore, I think a less restrictive regulatory framework is definitely important.
I think that in due time, space tourism will become more of a reality. I don't foresee it becoming something a ton of people can do in the next decade and possibly not even in the next two decades primarily due to how expensive it is. It can't become something a ton of people can do unless prices really come down. Those fortunate to be in the top one percent financially will be fortunate to be able to make these space trips and even then safety will always be a concern. The explosion of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo on October 31, 2014, creates a bad aurora in the eyes of the public. I think that with more time credibility with passenger flights, they will be able to gain a better public perception. However, the commercial space industry is very young. Virgin Galactic is only planning on taking passengers to the sixty-two mile mark which is considered space and they will only have four minutes of weightlessness before coming back into the Earths atmosphere (Davies 2015). This just shows the mere infancy of the entire program. That being said, I think it will definitely be a bucket list item until technology advances and prices can come down exponentially. When airplanes were first being put into passenger travel service, there was a fear from the public. It will definitely take a good amount of time to get the public to wrap their heads around space travel. While I definitely support civilian space travel, I think the commercial space industry has a ways to go in terms of safety.
Entering the space tourism industry on the pilot side may take quite a bit of work. Virgin Galactic has posted job postings looking for pilots. Nancy Atkinson has detailed the requirements that Virgin Galactic put out in their press release. She described these requirements in her article "Dream job posting: Spaceship pilots wanted." The first requirement is having graduated from a recognized test pilot school. The applicant must have experience in flying,"both high performance fast-jet type airplanes and large multi-engine types (Atkinson 2016)." Like most commercial industry segments, their press release says that the applicant must promote an enjoyable and safe flight atmosphere and previous spaceflight experience is highly desirable (Atkinson 2016).
Entering the space tourism industry on the pilot side may take quite a bit of work. Virgin Galactic has posted job postings looking for pilots. Nancy Atkinson has detailed the requirements that Virgin Galactic put out in their press release. She described these requirements in her article "Dream job posting: Spaceship pilots wanted." The first requirement is having graduated from a recognized test pilot school. The applicant must have experience in flying,"both high performance fast-jet type airplanes and large multi-engine types (Atkinson 2016)." Like most commercial industry segments, their press release says that the applicant must promote an enjoyable and safe flight atmosphere and previous spaceflight experience is highly desirable (Atkinson 2016).
References
Antczak, J. (2016, February 15). Things to know about the space tourism industry. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from http://www.usnews.com/news/science/articles/2016-02-15/things-to-know-about-the-space-tourism-industry
Atkinson, N. (2016, April 26). Dream job posting: Spaceship pilots wanted. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://www.universetoday.com/84765/dream-job-posting-spaceship-pilots-wanted/
Blum, S. (2015, November 25). The space tourism timeline. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from https://www.inverse.com/article/8528-the-space-tourism-timeline
Davies, A. (2015, July 29). Blame a catastrophic blindspot for the fatal Virgin Galactic crash. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from https://www.wired.com/2015/07/blame-catastrophic-blindspot-virgin-galactic-crash/
FAA. (2010, June 28). Fact Sheet - Commercial space transportation. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=11559
Fecht, S. (2016, September 16). Could SpaceX's Falcon 9 really launch again by November? Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://top.adlesse.com/en/i/710864461139702037/could-spacex-s-falcon-9-really-launch-again-by-november
Howell, E. (2016, February 17). Virgin Galactic: Richard Branson's Space Tourism Company. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from http://www.space.com/18993-virgin-galactic.html
Melville, G. (2014, April 30). How do I go to space? And how much will it cost me? Retrieved October 20, 2016, from https://www.outsideonline.com/1785601/how-do-i-go-space-and-how-much-will-it-cost-me
Stockton, N. (2015, November 18). Congress says yes to space mining, No to rocket regulations. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from https://www.wired.com/2015/11/congress-says-yes-to-space-mining-no-to-rocket-regulations/
I had a real hard time finding space pilot positions or even information about being one. From Atkinson, it looks like you basically have to Chuck Yeager to qualify. Thanks for the information.
ReplyDeleteThere are regulations on some of the qualifications, but they could be from when it was run by the government. Pilots had to have a degree in a STEM major, and they had to have 1,000 hours of flying time. I thought it was interesting that the pilot had to have a science degree instead of an aviation degree.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that space tourism will be viable in the immediate future. Spending up to $250,000 just be be weightless for a couple of minutes is something only the rich can afford. The only part of commercial space that I do see as potentially viable is companies transporting cargo to the International Space Station and launching satellites into space.
ReplyDeleteI liked you point about how when civilian commercial flights became available the public perception was a scary one. I think the same will follow for the commercial space industry however for the enthusiastic millionaire adrenaline seeking adventurer safety may be overlooked. Unfortunately this type of person is very rare and there aren't enough of them to support the industry.
ReplyDeleteI agree that space tourism is in its infancy at this point, but Im not sure that safety is what is lacking the most. I believe that any company that is working towards these goals have an absolute focus on safety. Development of efficient reusable space crafts is likely the greatest challenge they are facing in these early years.
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