Space Travel just got further to being a more commonly used term. Space Adventures, a company that turns the far fetched dream of space travel into a reality for private citizens, has partnered up with SpaceX to launch private citizens on the Crew Dragon, for its first ever private citizen journey to space. This stems from the successful Crew Dragon operation last year, and the successful satellite launches by SpaceX in the past few months.
The two companies have partnered to transport ordinary citizens(who carry some extraordinary cash) to board SpaceX’s famous Falcon 9 rocket and travel to the highest altitude ever reached by a private spacecraft and witness the eccentric beauty of our motherland. Falcon 9 is SpaceX’s ace in the hole, and has gathered a lot of acclaim due to its ability to land the rocket thrusters back on ground for intel and future operations.
All of this sounds like something from Rick and Morty, and it is mind boggling how far humanity has come in the last century. The last record set for the highest altitude reached by a private carries was during the Gemini program, and now, Space Adventures has set out to put that to shame.
“Creating unique and previously impossible opportunities for private citizens to experience space is why Space Adventures exists. From 2001-2009 our clients made history by flying over 36 million miles in space on eight separate missions to the ISS,” said Eric Anderson, Chairman, Space Adventures, in a statement to The Tech Portal.
“Since its maiden mission in 2010, no engineering achievement has consistently impressed the industry more than the Dragon/Falcon 9 reusable system. Honoring our combined histories, this Dragon mission will be a special experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity – capable of reaching twice the altitude of any prior civilian astronaut mission or space station visitor,” he added.
2020 has been a good year for SpaceX so far, as the company has already launched 3 successful satellite launches atop the Falcon 9, as part of its Starlink constellation. The company now has around 300 satellites in orbit, and is on track to start broadband services in America and Canada by the end of the year. In fact, Starlink has become so big that a report suggests that a future IPO is not out of the question.
This partnership will be another feather in the company’s cap, and it is very excited to see the fruits it will bear. Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer, SpaceX said,“This historic mission will forge a path to making spaceflight possible for all people who dream of it, and we are pleased to work with the Space Adventures’ team on the mission.”
Space Adventures is credited to ferry the world’s first private explorers to space. Headquartered in the Washington, D.C., It offers a variety of programs including spaceflight missions to the International Space Station, around the Moon, record-breaking orbital missions, and various training and spaceflight qualification programs. The company’s orbital spaceflight clients include the likes of Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari, Charles Simonyi, Richard Garriott, and Guy Laliberté.
