SpaceX's astronaut launch debut won't be the first human spaceflight to American soil since 2011

[Admin]

SpaceX's first crewed mission, which is set to launch on Wednesday (May 27), will be epic and historic. But it doesn't mark the return of human spaceflight to American soil.

SpaceX's astronaut launch debut won't be the first human spaceflight to American soil since 2011 : Read more

 

[p3orion]

"SpaceX's first crewed mission... doesn't mark the return of human spaceflight to American soil. The suborbital space tourism company Virgin Galactic notched that milestone..."

Jeeze, Wall, are you on Branson's PR staff or something? Yes, the VSS Unity is technologically innovative, and I hope the space tourist business does well. And yes it's fun to watch, and I would have given my right arm to be one of the pilots. I bet it was a helluva ride, but it qualified as "manned space flight" only if you use NASA's current dumbed-down 50-miles-high definition of space. Even so, it barely cleared that low bar; Alan Shepard went TWICE as high almost SIXTY YEARS ago.

To compare the Virgin Galactic hop with SpaceX's upcoming manned orbital mission, and somehow claim that VG "beat" SpaceX to manned U.S. space flight, is just pathetic. It reminds me of when in 1965 the Soviets, watching the astronauts of America's Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 maneuver into orbital formation flight only six feet apart, whined to anyone who would listen that the USSR had achieved the first "rendezvous" three years earlier... though Vostok 3 and 4 had never come closer than about four miles.

To make a comparison, things have got to be at least comparable, and the Virgin Galactic "joy ride" just isn't in the same class as a working, usable man-rated space craft. You might as well compare Musk's SpaceX to Disney's Space Mountain.

 

[jdb2]

This article makes a glaringly invalid comparison when it says that "But, despite what you may have heard, it doesn't mark the return of human spaceflight to American soil." w.r.t. SpaceX's upcoming crewed space flight to the I.S.S. Specifically, Virgin Galactic's "human spaceflight" program is not in any way designed to take humans into orbital space, where the I.S.S. resides at about 254 miles -- it is only designed to take "space tourists" up to around 50+ miles for several minutes, which is far short of what "human spaceflight" is usually referred to.

Virgin Galactic's "human spaceflight program" seems to me just to be a gimmick for the rich and famous. It's basically the 1%'s version of a theme park ride. SpaceX, on the other hand, is actually sending humans into orbital space and to the I.S.S., which is much ( orders of a magnitude ) harder than getting up to the edge of space and then gliding back down to earth.

It seems that the author of the article doesn't understand the above differences and just conflates "human spaceflight" with "getting to the edge of space", or, if the author does understand the differences, then he decided to equate what Virgin Galactic and SpaceX are doing just for the sensationalist hype.

Utter tripe.

jdb2

 

[RussLucas3]

100% Agree with P3 and jdb2. No astronaut patch for VG tourists. An "I survived a VG Spaceship flight" patch would be more appropriate.

 

[DarkHawke]

Picky, picky, picky. Did someone not meet their article quota this month?

 

[Pallen]

I created an account after years of reading articles here, just to say to say: "If touch my toes in the ocean I can say I have been to the sea, but I can't say I have been in the sea."

 

[Scuffers]

Only if you fail to make the Kármán line but then re-define it as 80km (when it's actually 100km)

 

[Torbjorn Larsson]

The historical US Air Force (and so NASA) peculiar definition of space (80 km) was invented so 8 instead of 1 of their X15 pilots could claim to be an astronaut [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15 ], in effect making sure the program was a space program. But now US has introduced an orbital Space Force, and in any case common usage is the Kármán line (100 km) definition.

You can as well call Blue Origins oversize sounding rockets for spacecrafts*, or climbers that have made Mount Everest and other 8.5 km peaks astronauts since they have ascended Earth atmosphere scale height (ascended to 1/e or ~1/3 of surface pressure) [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_height ]. Reversely ISS crews have only ascended a small part of Earth gravity well (ascended to ~ 2/3 or 1-1/e of surface gravity); the orbital definition is a practical one in which case the Kármán line is optimistic with a factor 2 [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Field_and_Steady-State_Ocean_Circulation_Explorer ].

*That said, I think most people will call Blue Origin's suborbital passenger astronauts, while mostly Virgin Galactic's passengers will call themselves astronauts.

 

[Scuffers]

Yup, a classic case of if you can't meet the goal, just move the goalposts.

Shame really, as the X-15 did pass the 100km line twice.

 

[p3orion]

I think most people will call Blue Origin's suborbital passenger astronauts, while mostly Virgin Galactic's passengers will call themselves astronauts.

Mostly? Every damn one will call himself an astronaut! Then again, if you pay six figures of your own money for a rocket ride, you've probably bought the right to call yourself whatever you want. Just don't ask ME to agree.