The nascent commercial suborbital spaceflight industry will soon open
the space frontier to commercial astronauts, payload specialists,
scientists and of course, tourists. This book describes the tantalizing
science opportunities to be offered when suborbital trips become routine
within the next 12 to 18 months. It describes the difference in training
and qualification necessary to become either a spaceflight participant
or a fully-fledged commercial suborbital astronaut and it describes the
vehicles this new class of astronauts will use.
Anticipation is on the rise for the new crop of commercial suborbital
spaceships that will serve the scientific and educational market. These
reusable rocket-propelled vehicles are expected to offer quick, routine
and affordable access to the edge of space along with the capability to
carry research and educational crew members. Yet to be demonstrated is
the hoped-for flight rates of suborbital vehicles.
Quick turnaround of these craft is central to realizing the
profit-making potential of repeated sojourns to suborbital heights. As
this book outlines, vehicle builders still face rigorous shake-out
schedules, flight safety hurdles as well as extensive trial-runs of
their respective craft before suborbital space jaunts become
commonplace. The book examines some of these 'cash and carry' suborbital
craft under development by such groups as Blue Origin, Masten Space
Systems, Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace and describes the hurdles
the space industry is quickly overcoming en-route to the industry
developing into a profitable economic entity.
Seedhouse also explains how the commercial suborbital spaceflight
industry is planning and preparing for the challenges of marketing and
financing and how it is marketing the hiring of astronauts. It examines
the role of commercial operators as enablers accessing the suborbital
frontier and how a partnership with governments and the private sector
will eventually permanently integrate the free market's innovation of
commercial suborbital space activities.
