DailyDirt: Space Tourism vs Working In Space
Techdirt. 2016-02-25
Summary:
Even though there are less than a handful of ways for people to get into space right now, there may be a few more options in the near future to get close to space or into low earth orbit. If you have the resources, you could just book a seat on a Soyuz for $20-70 million. But for a bit less, you can book a trip on various vehicles without a decades-long track record. Or... you could be paid to be an astronaut if you have the skills, but the odds of getting selected are pretty slim. 
- Virgin Galactic has built a replacement for its SpaceShipTwo vehicle that was destroyed in a fatal accident. The new VSS Unity incorporates a few more automated safety features and uses a different rocket fuel -- and may someday take dozens (hundreds?) of passengers to the edge of space as tourists. [url]
- Over 18,000 people have applied to become an astronaut for NASA -- in order to be named one of the 8 to 14 new astronauts in 2017. It's never been easy to be selected as an astronaut, but this is apparently the highest number of applications that NASA has received (even when NASA still operated a vehicle that could take people into space). [url]
- World View Enterprises is another step closer to building its own "spaceport" in Arizona. Spaceport Tuscon would launch World View's high altitude balloons to about 100,000 feet up in pressurized cabins. FYI, World View owns the tech that helped ex-Google VP Alan Eustace make a record-breaking skydive from an altitude of 135,908 feet. [url]