Elon Musk's SpaceX on Tuesday announced the first commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth aboard Dragon spacecraft.

According to SpaceX, this mission will enable&nbsp;access for ''everyday people who dream of going to space''.

US billionaire Jared Isaacman, who will be the space commander for this mission is paying for the entire flight, plans to take three people along with him. He aims to use the multi-day trip to raise $200 million for St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee.

The four crew members will receive ''emergency preparedness'' training on SpaceX's Falcon 9&nbsp; and Dragon spacecraft before blasting off Kennedy Space Station in Florida.&nbsp;

Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/elon-musk-and-jeff-bezos-are-fighting-against-each-other-over-space-real-estate-359556">Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are fighting against each other over space real estate</a>

The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to seven passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth and is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station.

“It will be the first mission to fly two international partner crew members as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program,” NASA announced.

The announcement comes after billionaire&nbsp;Jeff&nbsp;Bezos-owned space company Blue Origin said it&nbsp;aims to carry the first passengers on its New Shepard space vehicle as early as April.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-launches-a-rocket-that-could-fly-first-space-passengers-by-april-356788">Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launches a rocket that could fly first space passengers by April</a>

Blue Origin completed the fourteenth test flight of its New Shepard rocket booster and capsule on Thursday, marking one of the last remaining steps before the company flies its first crew to space, the report said.

It said that it aims to launch the second test flight within six weeks, or by late February, and the first crewed flight six weeks after that, or by early April.

Bezos aims to provide government and private customers low-cost access to space, though he trails rival billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk, the outspoken and envelope-pushing founder and CEO of Tesla, overtook Amazon boss Jeff&nbsp;Bezos&nbsp;to become the world's wealthiest person

Elon Musk's SpaceX on Tuesday announced the first commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth aboard Dragon spacecraft. According to SpaceX, this mission will enable access for ''everyday people who dream of going to space''.

Elon Musk's SpaceX on Tuesday announced the first commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth aboard Dragon spacecraft. According to SpaceX, this mission will enable access for ''everyday people who dream of going to space''. US billionaire Jared Isaacman, who will be the space commander for this mission is paying for the entire flight, plans to take three people along with him. He aims to use the multi-day trip to raise $200 million for St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee. The four crew members will receive ''emergency preparedness'' training on SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft before blasting off Kennedy Space Station in Florida. Also read: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are fighting against each other over space real estate The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to seven passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth and is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station. “It will be the first mission to fly two international partner crew members as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program,” NASA announced. The announcement comes after billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned space company Blue Origin said it aims to carry the first passengers on its New Shepard space vehicle as early as April. Also read: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launches a rocket that could fly first space passengers by April Blue Origin completed the fourteenth test flight of its New Shepard rocket booster and capsule on Thursday, marking one of the last remaining steps before the company flies its first crew to space, the report said. It said that it aims to launch the second test flight within six weeks, or by late February, and the first crewed flight six weeks after that, or by early April. Bezos aims to provide government and private customers low-cost access to space, though he trails rival billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Earlier this month, Elon Musk, the outspoken and envelope-pushing founder and CEO of Tesla, overtook Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to become the world's wealthiest person

SpaceX announces first commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth

The world's two richest men Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are sparring over&nbsp;space real estate, with SpaceX accusing Amazon of ''stifling competition''.

Starlink is SpaceX's ambitious project to launch and operate its own network of broadband satellites, which will provide low-cost Internet to remote locations on a global level.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/spacex-confirms-putting-60-new-starlink-internet-satellites-into-orbit-303249">SpaceX confirms putting 60 new Starlink Internet satellites into orbit</a>

Amazon.com Inc is set to invest more than $10 billion to build a network of 3,236 satellites that will provide high-speed broadband internet services to people around the world who lack such access.

The announcement follows the Federal Communications Commission's approval of the plan, called "Project Kuiper", for the constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that will compete with the Starlink network being built out by Elon Musk's SpaceX.&nbsp;

As a result of a proposed change in SpaceX's plan of launching&nbsp;broadband satellites, it might clash with Amazon.

Musk took to Twiter to express his frustration saying&nbsp;"It does not serve the public to hamstring Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that is at best several years away from operation."

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It does not serve the public to hamstring Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that is at best several years away from operation
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1354018055014260738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Amazon hit back saying&nbsp;"The facts are simple. We designed the Kuiper System to avoid interference with Starlink, and now SpaceX wants to change the design of its system.&nbsp;Those changes not only create a more dangerous environment for collisions in space, but they also increase radio interference for customers."

In a statement issued by Amazon, it said:&nbsp;"Despite what SpaceX posts on Twitter, it is SpaceX's proposed changes that would hamstring competition among satellite systems. It is clearly in SpaceX's interest to smother competition in the cradle if they can, but it is certainly not in the public's interest."

By comparison, SpaceX has launched over 500 satellites of the roughly 12,000 expected for its Starlink constellation in low Earth orbit and plans to offer broadband service in the United States and Canada by the year's end. The FCC approved SpaceX's request in 2018.

While extremely costly to deploy, satellite technology can provide high-speed internet for people who live in rural or hard-to-serve places where fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach. The technology could also be a critical backstop when hurricanes or other natural disasters disrupts communication.

The FCC authorisation, adopted with a 5-0 vote, requires Amazon to launch half of its satellites no later than mid-2026 and build out the rest of the constellation by mid-2029.

Amazon said it would begin to offer broadband service once 578 satellites are launched. It had 110 open positions for its "Project Kuiper" posted on its website Thursday. The satellites will be designed and tested at a new research and development facility opening in Redmond, Washington.

The world's two richest men Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are sparring over space real estate, with SpaceX accusing Amazon of ''stifling competition''. Starlink is SpaceX's ambitious project to launch and operate its own network of broadband satellites, which will provide low-cost Internet to remote locations on a global level.

The world's two richest men Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are sparring over space real estate, with SpaceX accusing Amazon of ''stifling competition''. Starlink is SpaceX's ambitious project to launch and operate its own network of broadband satellites, which will provide low-cost Internet to remote locations on a global level. Also read: SpaceX confirms putting 60 new Starlink Internet satellites into orbit Amazon.com Inc is set to invest more than $10 billion to build a network of 3,236 satellites that will provide high-speed broadband internet services to people around the world who lack such access. The announcement follows the Federal Communications Commission's approval of the plan, called "Project Kuiper", for the constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that will compete with the Starlink network being built out by Elon Musk's SpaceX. As a result of a proposed change in SpaceX's plan of launching broadband satellites, it might clash with Amazon. Musk took to Twiter to express his frustration saying "It does not serve the public to hamstring Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that is at best several years away from operation." It does not serve the public to hamstring Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that is at best several years away from operation — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2021 × Amazon hit back saying "The facts are simple. We designed the Kuiper System to avoid interference with Starlink, and now SpaceX wants to change the design of its system. Those changes not only create a more dangerous environment for collisions in space, but they also increase radio interference for customers." In a statement issued by Amazon, it said: "Despite what SpaceX posts on Twitter, it is SpaceX's proposed changes that would hamstring competition among satellite systems. It is clearly in SpaceX's interest to smother competition in the cradle if they can, but it is certainly not in the public's interest." By comparison, SpaceX has launched over 500 satellites of the roughly 12,000 expected for its Starlink constellation in low Earth orbit and plans to offer broadband service in the United States and Canada by the year's end. The FCC approved SpaceX's request in 2018. While extremely costly to deploy, satellite technology can provide high-speed internet for people who live in rural or hard-to-serve places where fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach. The technology could also be a critical backstop when hurricanes or other natural disasters disrupts communication. The FCC authorisation, adopted with a 5-0 vote, requires Amazon to launch half of its satellites no later than mid-2026 and build out the rest of the constellation by mid-2029. Amazon said it would begin to offer broadband service once 578 satellites are launched. It had 110 open positions for its "Project Kuiper" posted on its website Thursday. The satellites will be designed and tested at a new research and development facility opening in Redmond, Washington.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are fighting against each other over space real estate

Billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned space company Blue Origin has just launched a rocket called 'Mannequin Skywalker' that could make way for space tourism flights this year.

Blue Origin completed the fourteenth test flight of its New Shepard rocket booster and capsule on Thursday, marking one of the last remaining steps before the company flies its first crew to space.

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Congrats to the Blue Origin team on another successful launch. One step closer. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NewShepard?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NewShepard</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LaunchLandRepeat?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LaunchLandRepeat</a>
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) <a href="https://twitter.com/blueorigin/status/1349771121646841856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Sara Blask, a spokesperson for Blue Origin said: "The capsule will be outfitted with upgrades to the crew capsule for the astronaut experience as the program nears human space flight."

"The upgrades include improvements to environmental features such as acoustics and temperature regulation inside the capsule, crew display panels, and speakers with a microphone and push-to-talk button at each seat."

Bezos&nbsp;aims to carry the first passengers on its New Shepard space vehicle as early as April. The company offered no details on Wednesday about how it would move from the design phase to moon missions in this time frame.

Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by Bezos, Amazon.com Inc’s chief executive, has launched and landed its suborbital rocket New Shepard more than a dozen times, and aims to complete development of its much bigger workhorse orbital rocket, New Glenn, by next year.

Bezos aims to provide government and private customers low-cost access to space, though he trails rival billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Blue has vied for lucrative government contracts in recent years and is competing with SpaceX and Leidos-owned Dynetics to win a contract to build NASA’s next human lunar landing system to ferry humans to the moon in the next decade.

In April, NASA awarded a lunar lander development contract to Blue Origin’s team worth $579 million, as well as two other companies: SpaceX which received $135 million to help develop its Starship system and Leidos-owned Dynetics which won $253 million.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned space company Blue Origin has just launched a rocket called 'Mannequin Skywalker' that could make way for space tourism flights this year.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned space company Blue Origin has just launched a rocket called 'Mannequin Skywalker' that could make way for space tourism flights this year. Blue Origin completed the fourteenth test flight of its New Shepard rocket booster and capsule on Thursday, marking one of the last remaining steps before the company flies its first crew to space. Congrats to the Blue Origin team on another successful launch. One step closer. #NewShepard #LaunchLandRepeat — Blue Origin (@blueorigin) January 14, 2021 × Sara Blask, a spokesperson for Blue Origin said: "The capsule will be outfitted with upgrades to the crew capsule for the astronaut experience as the program nears human space flight." "The upgrades include improvements to environmental features such as acoustics and temperature regulation inside the capsule, crew display panels, and speakers with a microphone and push-to-talk button at each seat." Bezos aims to carry the first passengers on its New Shepard space vehicle as early as April. The company offered no details on Wednesday about how it would move from the design phase to moon missions in this time frame. Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by Bezos, Amazon.com Inc’s chief executive, has launched and landed its suborbital rocket New Shepard more than a dozen times, and aims to complete development of its much bigger workhorse orbital rocket, New Glenn, by next year. Bezos aims to provide government and private customers low-cost access to space, though he trails rival billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Blue has vied for lucrative government contracts in recent years and is competing with SpaceX and Leidos-owned Dynetics to win a contract to build NASA’s next human lunar landing system to ferry humans to the moon in the next decade. In April, NASA awarded a lunar lander development contract to Blue Origin’s team worth $579 million, as well as two other companies: SpaceX which received $135 million to help develop its Starship system and Leidos-owned Dynetics which won $253 million.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launches a rocket that could fly first space passengers by April

West Texas is not quite like the moon. But it can serve as a handy stand-in.

Last week, Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, launched,&nbsp;and landed, its small New Shepard rocket and capsule for the 13th time as part of tests to verify safety before any passengers climb aboard.

One day, this will be New Shepard’s main business: flying well-to-do people above the 62-mile altitude generally considered the beginning of outer space where they will experience a few minutes of weightlessness as the capsule arcs.

Blue Origin is not a new company, Bezos founded it in 2000,&nbsp;but for most of its existence, it operated in secret without generating much revenue. Three years ago, Bezos said he was selling $1 billion a year in Amazon stock to finance Blue Origin’s research and development. And he has declared broad ambitions for its business, such as competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and others in the orbital launch business, building a moon lander for NASA astronauts and eventually making it possible for millions of people to live and work in space.

But the cargo of last Tuesday’s launch from a test site near Van Horn, Texas, shows that the company is finding a more modest business in the short term: turning the reusable New Shepard rocket and capsule into an effective, and profitable, platform for testing new technologies and performing scientific experiments.

“It was fantastic,” said Erika Wagner, Blue Origin’s payload sales director, who was in West Texas. “We were watching across the valley and watching the rocket climb up.”

Tucked under the collar at the top of the booster on the launch were prototypes of sensors that could help NASA astronauts safely reach the lunar surface in a few years. It is part of NASA’s Tipping Point program, which seeks to push innovative technologies.

“Although not identical to a lunar lander, it is representative in that full-flight profile of approaching at a high rate of speed, and then throttling up an engine and doing a propulsive landing,” said Stefan Bieniawski, who leads the Blue Origin side of the partnership with NASA. “In fact, I think we’re actually at slightly higher speeds than you would be approaching the moon. So it gives a little bit of a stress test for some of these sensors.”

Unlike NASA’s Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972, which visited different parts of the moon, the space agency’s current Artemis program aims to make repeated visits near the lunar South Pole, where eternally shadowed craters contain large amounts of water ice. That will require the ability to land close to the same spot again and again.

To that end, NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, has spent years developing a system that bounces light off the surface to measure altitude and velocity of a descending spacecraft. This technology, lidar — short for light detection and ranging — is similar to radar, but it should be able to provide more precise readings.

A second NASA system aboard the flight was a test of what is known as terrain relative navigation. Because there are no Global Positioning System satellites orbiting the moon, a spacecraft has to rely on its own smarts to determine its exact location. With this navigation system, a computer compares images taken by a camera with those stored onboard to determine its location.

The navigation system was turned on close to where the New Shepard booster reached its highest point.

“The terrain navigation does not sit there and say, ‘Hey, I see a crater,’ ” Bieniawski said. “It’s really looking for contrasts in the scene. And in that way, it really doesn’t care whether it’s on the moon or whether it’s here on Earth.”

NASA paid Blue Origin $1.5 million to mount its systems on two flights of New Shepard. The second flight will add another lidar instrument that will create a three-dimensional map of the landscape below in order to identify and avoid obstacles.

“Our goal is to ready a plug-and-play precision landing system that NASA and industry can use based on a mission’s specific need,” Jim Bridenstine, the NASA administrator, said in a statement. “This integrated New Shepard test will put us on that path, giving us unmatched intel about how the sensors, algorithms and computer work together.”

While there were no people in the New Shepard capsule for the flight, it was not empty. It carried NASA-financed science experiments as well as experimental cargo from private companies. New Shepard flights have already carried more than 100 payloads to the edge of space.

“We make money on every flight,” said Bob Smith, the chief executive of Blue Origin.

Wagner of Blue Origin said the scientists came to West Texas and were excited to watch the launch and start digging into the results the same day. “They’re just bouncing up and down on their toes,” she said.

The experiments on last week’s flight included the second iteration of a project from Daniel Durda, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. He called it BORE II, where BORE is a simple acronym for Box of Rocks Experiment.

“It’s literally a box of rocks,” Durda said.

He is trying to develop a system that can scoop up samples of dirt from an asteroid. BORE II contains crushed-up material that is similar in composition to certain carbon-rich asteroids.

During the weightless portion of the flight, a tetrahedron-shaped collection device, which Durda called a starfish, will unfold. Magnets mounted on the outer triangles — the arms of the starfish — should attract and hold onto some of the crushed rocks. The device will then fold up again, trapping the material.

“It’s kind of a biomimicry thing if you think about it,” Durda said. “The way starfish feed is they kind of extrude their stomach out and they pull them back in and collect what they’re doing. That’s kind of what we’re doing here.”

By testing the design on a suborbital flight, Durda can find out how much material can be collected and whether the apparatus operates without jamming.

“It’s the very first step in understanding how you might incorporate a sampler mechanism like this into a spacecraft rendezvous mission where you dump maybe dozens, many dozens of these little things across the surface of an asteroid,” he said.

With the new suborbital vehicles that fly repeatedly, the price of getting to space is much lower for NASA as well as for academic and private scientists.

The most popular option, Smith said, is what Blue Origin calls a single storage locker. “That starts around $100,000 for about 25 pounds and something the size of, let’s say, a microwave,” he said. “But we also have many payloads that we use with students that go as low as $8,000.”

The suborbital research is also a sign that Blue Origin is making a turn to becoming a profitable business as it prepares to sell tickets to space tourists. It has yet to announce a date or price for those flights.

“It’s been a lot of growth in facilities personnel actually trying to understand how do we run this much more like a business as opposed to a research organization,” Smith said. “We’ve also gone from virtually zero revenue to now making hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue annually.”

The company has competition for the market of sending experiments to space. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which also plans to send space tourists on suborbital jaunts, has been flying experiments during its test flights. One from University of Florida scientists, for example, tested imaging technologies that capture the reaction of plants — what genes are turned on and off — to the stresses of spaceflight. (The same scientists had another iteration of the experiment aboard last week’s Blue Origin flight.)

Virgin Galactic’s space plane, known as SpaceShipTwo, is flown by two pilots, so it has carried people to space, but it will not fly paying passengers until next year.

“The whole view of using these vehicles for research purposes has moved into the mainstream, and NASA has now been funding a lot of that kind of work,” said S. Alan Stern, associate vice president of the space science and engineering division at Southwest Research Institute who has been selected by NASA to accompany his research on a future Virgin Galactic flight.

By operating the experiment himself, Stern said he would gain direct experience with how these materials behave on an asteroid.

“I think it’s very important for us to understand the conditions on their surfaces at a ‘gut instinct’ level the same way a field geologist walking a Western desert landscape here on Earth does,” Durda said.

“We’ve attained that level of familiarity in just about every other aspect of field and laboratory science,” he said. “It’s long past time for space scientists to be able to work with that same enabling benefit.”

West Texas is not quite like the moon. But it can serve as a handy stand-in. Last week, Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, launched, and landed, its small New Shepard rocket and capsule for the 13th time as part of tests to verify safety before any passengers climb aboard.

West Texas is not quite like the moon. But it can serve as a handy stand-in. Last week, Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, launched, and landed, its small New Shepard rocket and capsule for the 13th time as part of tests to verify safety before any passengers climb aboard. One day, this will be New Shepard’s main business: flying well-to-do people above the 62-mile altitude generally considered the beginning of outer space where they will experience a few minutes of weightlessness as the capsule arcs. Blue Origin is not a new company, Bezos founded it in 2000, but for most of its existence, it operated in secret without generating much revenue. Three years ago, Bezos said he was selling $1 billion a year in Amazon stock to finance Blue Origin’s research and development. And he has declared broad ambitions for its business, such as competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and others in the orbital launch business, building a moon lander for NASA astronauts and eventually making it possible for millions of people to live and work in space. But the cargo of last Tuesday’s launch from a test site near Van Horn, Texas, shows that the company is finding a more modest business in the short term: turning the reusable New Shepard rocket and capsule into an effective, and profitable, platform for testing new technologies and performing scientific experiments. “It was fantastic,” said Erika Wagner, Blue Origin’s payload sales director, who was in West Texas. “We were watching across the valley and watching the rocket climb up.” Tucked under the collar at the top of the booster on the launch were prototypes of sensors that could help NASA astronauts safely reach the lunar surface in a few years. It is part of NASA’s Tipping Point program, which seeks to push innovative technologies. “Although not identical to a lunar lander, it is representative in that full-flight profile of approaching at a high rate of speed, and then throttling up an engine and doing a propulsive landing,” said Stefan Bieniawski, who leads the Blue Origin side of the partnership with NASA. “In fact, I think we’re actually at slightly higher speeds than you would be approaching the moon. So it gives a little bit of a stress test for some of these sensors.” Unlike NASA’s Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972, which visited different parts of the moon, the space agency’s current Artemis program aims to make repeated visits near the lunar South Pole, where eternally shadowed craters contain large amounts of water ice. That will require the ability to land close to the same spot again and again. To that end, NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, has spent years developing a system that bounces light off the surface to measure altitude and velocity of a descending spacecraft. This technology, lidar — short for light detection and ranging — is similar to radar, but it should be able to provide more precise readings. A second NASA system aboard the flight was a test of what is known as terrain relative navigation. Because there are no Global Positioning System satellites orbiting the moon, a spacecraft has to rely on its own smarts to determine its exact location. With this navigation system, a computer compares images taken by a camera with those stored onboard to determine its location. The navigation system was turned on close to where the New Shepard booster reached its highest point. “The terrain navigation does not sit there and say, ‘Hey, I see a crater,’ ” Bieniawski said. “It’s really looking for contrasts in the scene. And in that way, it really doesn’t care whether it’s on the moon or whether it’s here on Earth.” NASA paid Blue Origin $1.5 million to mount its systems on two flights of New Shepard. The second flight will add another lidar instrument that will create a three-dimensional map of the landscape below in order to identify and avoid obstacles. “Our goal is to ready a plug-and-play precision landing system that NASA and industry can use based on a mission’s specific need,” Jim Bridenstine, the NASA administrator, said in a statement. “This integrated New Shepard test will put us on that path, giving us unmatched intel about how the sensors, algorithms and computer work together.” While there were no people in the New Shepard capsule for the flight, it was not empty. It carried NASA-financed science experiments as well as experimental cargo from private companies. New Shepard flights have already carried more than 100 payloads to the edge of space. “We make money on every flight,” said Bob Smith, the chief executive of Blue Origin. Wagner of Blue Origin said the scientists came to West Texas and were excited to watch the launch and start digging into the results the same day. “They’re just bouncing up and down on their toes,” she said. The experiments on last week’s flight included the second iteration of a project from Daniel Durda, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. He called it BORE II, where BORE is a simple acronym for Box of Rocks Experiment. “It’s literally a box of rocks,” Durda said. He is trying to develop a system that can scoop up samples of dirt from an asteroid. BORE II contains crushed-up material that is similar in composition to certain carbon-rich asteroids. During the weightless portion of the flight, a tetrahedron-shaped collection device, which Durda called a starfish, will unfold. Magnets mounted on the outer triangles — the arms of the starfish — should attract and hold onto some of the crushed rocks. The device will then fold up again, trapping the material. “It’s kind of a biomimicry thing if you think about it,” Durda said. “The way starfish feed is they kind of extrude their stomach out and they pull them back in and collect what they’re doing. That’s kind of what we’re doing here.” By testing the design on a suborbital flight, Durda can find out how much material can be collected and whether the apparatus operates without jamming. “It’s the very first step in understanding how you might incorporate a sampler mechanism like this into a spacecraft rendezvous mission where you dump maybe dozens, many dozens of these little things across the surface of an asteroid,” he said. With the new suborbital vehicles that fly repeatedly, the price of getting to space is much lower for NASA as well as for academic and private scientists. The most popular option, Smith said, is what Blue Origin calls a single storage locker. “That starts around $100,000 for about 25 pounds and something the size of, let’s say, a microwave,” he said. “But we also have many payloads that we use with students that go as low as $8,000.” The suborbital research is also a sign that Blue Origin is making a turn to becoming a profitable business as it prepares to sell tickets to space tourists. It has yet to announce a date or price for those flights. “It’s been a lot of growth in facilities personnel actually trying to understand how do we run this much more like a business as opposed to a research organization,” Smith said. “We’ve also gone from virtually zero revenue to now making hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue annually.” The company has competition for the market of sending experiments to space. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which also plans to send space tourists on suborbital jaunts, has been flying experiments during its test flights. One from University of Florida scientists, for example, tested imaging technologies that capture the reaction of plants — what genes are turned on and off — to the stresses of spaceflight. (The same scientists had another iteration of the experiment aboard last week’s Blue Origin flight.) Virgin Galactic’s space plane, known as SpaceShipTwo, is flown by two pilots, so it has carried people to space, but it will not fly paying passengers until next year. “The whole view of using these vehicles for research purposes has moved into the mainstream, and NASA has now been funding a lot of that kind of work,” said S. Alan Stern, associate vice president of the space science and engineering division at Southwest Research Institute who has been selected by NASA to accompany his research on a future Virgin Galactic flight. By operating the experiment himself, Stern said he would gain direct experience with how these materials behave on an asteroid. “I think it’s very important for us to understand the conditions on their surfaces at a ‘gut instinct’ level the same way a field geologist walking a Western desert landscape here on Earth does,” Durda said. “We’ve attained that level of familiarity in just about every other aspect of field and laboratory science,” he said. “It’s long past time for space scientists to be able to work with that same enabling benefit.”

Jeff Bezos’ company is carrying scientific cargo to space. It’s not Amazon

Back in 2015, students in Maggie Samudio’s second-grade class at Cumberland Elementary School in West Lafayette, Indiana, were contemplating an offbeat science question: If a firefly went to space, would it still be able to light up as it floated in zero gravity?

Samudio said she would ask a friend of hers, Steven Collicott, an aerospace professor at nearby Purdue University, for the answer.

“He teaches a class on zero gravity, and he would be the perfect person to answer the question,” Samudio recalled in an email.

A day later, Collicott replied, and Samudio was surprised by his answer: Instead of guessing, why not actually build the experiment and send it to space?

Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, was planning to offer the ability for schools to fly small experiments on its New Shepard suborbital spacecraft for as little as $8,000.

“That is a game-changer,” said Erika Wagner, the payload sales director at Blue Origin. “Kids as young as elementary school are flying things to space.”

Collicott, who had sent several fluid flow experiments on New Shepard launches, pointed Samudio and her second-graders to Blue Origin.

“For the small payload 4 inches square by 8 inches tall, we’re able to fly that for half the cost of high school football uniforms,” Collicott said. “So really any school district now that affords football can afford spaceflight.”

Cumberland Elementary has not been the only school to see the value of paying for an experiment aboard the New Shepard rocket. A Montessori middle school in Colorado sent up a sensor package designed and programmed by the students. An Alabama high school launched an experiment to test temperature fluctuations in microgravity. And this past December, an elementary school in Ohio sent up baby jellyfish.

On board for the latest flight, which launched last Tuesday, were 1.2 million tomato seeds, which will be distributed to students in 15,000 classes, kindergarten through high school, across the United States and Canada.

Following Collicott’s suggestion, Samudio’s children at Cumberland got to work, collaborating with Purdue students in Collicott’s classes.

“For the next two years, I had aeronautical engineers in my second-grade classroom teaching mini-lessons on basic principles of flight and propulsion as well as the basic principles of ‘firefly’ chemistry,” Samudio said.

On Dec. 12, 2017, the firefly experiment was on board New Shepard. It did not contain any actual fireflies. “It appears when scared, fireflies don’t light up,” Collicott said. “And we were concerned that the boost would scare them. And then there are also issues of I don’t know how to keep fireflies alive and keep them happy.”

Instead, the apparatus replicated the chemistry of how fireflies generate light, with syringes mixing the glow-creating substances together as the capsule reached the top of the trajectory more than 60 miles above West Texas. A tiny video camera recorded what happened in the payload box.

Collicott attended the launching, and two days later, was back in Samudio’s classroom presenting the results.

Fireflies can indeed glow in space.

“That kind of turnaround is just amazing, that spaceflight to these students is not distant,” Collicott said. “It happens fast. It’s kind of cool.”

The space experiment wrapped into a larger project undertaken by Samudio’s classes. One of her students, Kayla Xu, had noted with distress that most states had a state insect, and Indiana did not; she wanted to fix that.

That effort succeeded, too. On March 23, 2018, Gov. Eric Holcomb went to Cumberland Elementary School to sign a bill that declared the Say’s firefly, a species native to the area, the state insect of Indiana.

“Several parents told me that the simple question of asking their child what they had done in school that day exploded into amazing family conversations, extra reading and research, and the contemplation of future personal pursuits and goals,” Samudio said.

Back in 2015, students in Maggie Samudio’s second-grade class at Cumberland Elementary School in West Lafayette, Indiana, were contemplating an offbeat science question: If a firefly went to space, would it still be able to light up as it floated in zero gravity?

Back in 2015, students in Maggie Samudio’s second-grade class at Cumberland Elementary School in West Lafayette, Indiana, were contemplating an offbeat science question: If a firefly went to space, would it still be able to light up as it floated in zero gravity? Samudio said she would ask a friend of hers, Steven Collicott, an aerospace professor at nearby Purdue University, for the answer. “He teaches a class on zero gravity, and he would be the perfect person to answer the question,” Samudio recalled in an email. A day later, Collicott replied, and Samudio was surprised by his answer: Instead of guessing, why not actually build the experiment and send it to space? Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, was planning to offer the ability for schools to fly small experiments on its New Shepard suborbital spacecraft for as little as $8,000. “That is a game-changer,” said Erika Wagner, the payload sales director at Blue Origin. “Kids as young as elementary school are flying things to space.” Collicott, who had sent several fluid flow experiments on New Shepard launches, pointed Samudio and her second-graders to Blue Origin. “For the small payload 4 inches square by 8 inches tall, we’re able to fly that for half the cost of high school football uniforms,” Collicott said. “So really any school district now that affords football can afford spaceflight.” Cumberland Elementary has not been the only school to see the value of paying for an experiment aboard the New Shepard rocket. A Montessori middle school in Colorado sent up a sensor package designed and programmed by the students. An Alabama high school launched an experiment to test temperature fluctuations in microgravity. And this past December, an elementary school in Ohio sent up baby jellyfish. On board for the latest flight, which launched last Tuesday, were 1.2 million tomato seeds, which will be distributed to students in 15,000 classes, kindergarten through high school, across the United States and Canada. Following Collicott’s suggestion, Samudio’s children at Cumberland got to work, collaborating with Purdue students in Collicott’s classes. “For the next two years, I had aeronautical engineers in my second-grade classroom teaching mini-lessons on basic principles of flight and propulsion as well as the basic principles of ‘firefly’ chemistry,” Samudio said. On Dec. 12, 2017, the firefly experiment was on board New Shepard. It did not contain any actual fireflies. “It appears when scared, fireflies don’t light up,” Collicott said. “And we were concerned that the boost would scare them. And then there are also issues of I don’t know how to keep fireflies alive and keep them happy.” Instead, the apparatus replicated the chemistry of how fireflies generate light, with syringes mixing the glow-creating substances together as the capsule reached the top of the trajectory more than 60 miles above West Texas. A tiny video camera recorded what happened in the payload box. Collicott attended the launching, and two days later, was back in Samudio’s classroom presenting the results. Fireflies can indeed glow in space. “That kind of turnaround is just amazing, that spaceflight to these students is not distant,” Collicott said. “It happens fast. It’s kind of cool.” The space experiment wrapped into a larger project undertaken by Samudio’s classes. One of her students, Kayla Xu, had noted with distress that most states had a state insect, and Indiana did not; she wanted to fix that. That effort succeeded, too. On March 23, 2018, Gov. Eric Holcomb went to Cumberland Elementary School to sign a bill that declared the Say’s firefly, a species native to the area, the state insect of Indiana. “Several parents told me that the simple question of asking their child what they had done in school that day exploded into amazing family conversations, extra reading and research, and the contemplation of future personal pursuits and goals,” Samudio said.

How a 2nd-grade class sent a science experiment to space

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos space company Blue Origin conducted successful test flight of New Shepard capsule aimed at taking tourists to space.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/bezoss-blue-origin-and-musks-spacex-to-collaborate-in-building-nasas-lunar-lander-296099">Also Read:&nbsp;Bezos's Blue Origin and Musk's SpaceX to collaborate in building NASA's lunar lander</a>

Blue Origin tested the New Shepard capsule which remained in the air for over ten minutes and attained altitude 106 kilometers above sea level and which descended to the surface using parachutes and then landing in the West Texas desert.

"This is the seventh consecutive successful flight to space and back for this fully reusable rocket," the company said on Twitter.

There were no passengers onboard the current trip.&nbsp;

The previous test flight of the rocket had taken place back in December last year and it was due to test it again in April but it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.&nbsp;

Blue Origin had earlier said that it sees "New Shepard as an important source of inspiration for the public as it works to make Bezos' dream of millions of people living and working in space a reality."

However, the company hasn't disclosed the price of the tickets for the voyage. Last year, Virgin Galactic had shown the interior of its spaceship, however, both companies have not revealed when the new tourist spaceships will enter commercial service.

The Blue Origin rocket hopes to carry at least six passengers who would be placed on horizontal backrests which would include multiple cameras to capture every second of a passenger's journey in outer space. 
&nbsp;

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos space company Blue Origin conducted successful test flight of New Shepard capsule aimed at taking tourists to space. Also Read: Bezos's Blue Origin and Musk's SpaceX to collaborate in building NASA's lunar lander Blue Origin tested the New Shepard capsule which remained in the air for over ten minutes and attained altitude 106 kilometers above sea level and which descended to the surface using parachutes and then landing in the West Texas desert.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos space company Blue Origin conducted successful test flight of New Shepard capsule aimed at taking tourists to space. Also Read: Bezos's Blue Origin and Musk's SpaceX to collaborate in building NASA's lunar lander Blue Origin tested the New Shepard capsule which remained in the air for over ten minutes and attained altitude 106 kilometers above sea level and which descended to the surface using parachutes and then landing in the West Texas desert. "This is the seventh consecutive successful flight to space and back for this fully reusable rocket," the company said on Twitter. There were no passengers onboard the current trip. The previous test flight of the rocket had taken place back in December last year and it was due to test it again in April but it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Blue Origin had earlier said that it sees "New Shepard as an important source of inspiration for the public as it works to make Bezos' dream of millions of people living and working in space a reality." However, the company hasn't disclosed the price of the tickets for the voyage. Last year, Virgin Galactic had shown the interior of its spaceship, however, both companies have not revealed when the new tourist spaceships will enter commercial service. The Blue Origin rocket hopes to carry at least six passengers who would be placed on horizontal backrests which would include multiple cameras to capture every second of a passenger's journey in outer space.

New Shepard capsule: Bezos' Blue Origin conducts successful test flight for space tourism

NASA has selected three private space companies to develop human landers for Artemis moon missions.

The three companies include Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX; and Dynetics, based in Huntsville, Alabama.

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dlHJAKIaALg" width="560"></iframe>

The contract of the three companies is collectively worth $967 million.&nbsp;Out of this $579 million has been allocated to Blue Origin, $135 million to&nbsp;SpaceX&nbsp;and $253 million to Dynetics respectively.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/moon-rock-for-sale-one-of-the-largest-lunar-meteorite-to-be-auctioned-for-25-million-295819">Moon rock for sale!: One of the largest lunar meteorite to be auctioned for $2.5 million</a>

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SpaceX has been selected to develop a lunar optimized Starship to transport crew between lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon as part of <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASA</a>’s Artemis program! <a href="https://t.co/FRmwWisKfH">https://t.co/FRmwWisKfH</a> <a href="https://t.co/z1bkUrQMK8">pic.twitter.com/z1bkUrQMK8</a>
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Two other companies that put in bids, Boeing and Vivace, were edged out.

The lunar landers will carry the astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and back again.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstone said&nbsp;"this is the first time since the Apollo era that NASA has direct funding for a human landing system, and now we have companies on contract to do the work for the Artemis program."

The three companies are now in competition with each other to see who can develop their proposals into workable landers.&nbsp;

With Artemis, NASA has promised that the first woman will step foot on the lunar surface and there's&nbsp;already speculation&nbsp;on which of the space agency's veteran female astronauts might be the one.

The landings will be the first time astronauts have walked on the moon since the Apollo moon landings of the late 60s and early 70s.

NASA has selected three private space companies to develop human landers for Artemis moon missions. The three companies include Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX; and Dynetics, based in Huntsville, Alabama.

NASA has selected three private space companies to develop human landers for Artemis moon missions. The three companies include Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX; and Dynetics, based in Huntsville, Alabama. The contract of the three companies is collectively worth $967 million. Out of this $579 million has been allocated to Blue Origin, $135 million to SpaceX and $253 million to Dynetics respectively. Also read: Moon rock for sale!: One of the largest lunar meteorite to be auctioned for $2.5 million SpaceX has been selected to develop a lunar optimized Starship to transport crew between lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon as part of @NASA’s Artemis program! https://t.co/FRmwWisKfH pic.twitter.com/z1bkUrQMK8 — SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 30, 2020 × Two other companies that put in bids, Boeing and Vivace, were edged out. The lunar landers will carry the astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and back again. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstone said "this is the first time since the Apollo era that NASA has direct funding for a human landing system, and now we have companies on contract to do the work for the Artemis program." The three companies are now in competition with each other to see who can develop their proposals into workable landers. With Artemis, NASA has promised that the first woman will step foot on the lunar surface and there's already speculation on which of the space agency's veteran female astronauts might be the one. The landings will be the first time astronauts have walked on the moon since the Apollo moon landings of the late 60s and early 70s.

Bezos's Blue Origin and Musk's SpaceX to collaborate in building NASA's lunar lander

Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos says he's going to send a spaceship to the moon, joining a resurgence of lunar interest half a century after people first set foot there. Bezos says his space company Blue Origin will land a robotic ship the size of a small house, capable of carrying four rovers and using a newly designed rocket engine and souped-up rockets.

Jeff Bezos says he'll send a spaceship to the moon

Billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, founder of rocket company Blue Origin, unveiled on a mockup of a lunar lander spacecraft and discussed missions to the moon. Watch this video to know more.

Jeff Bezos unveils lunar landing spacecraft mockup

The US&nbsp;Air Force on Wednesday said that it had awarded a total $2.3 billion in contracts to develop rocket launch systems for national security missions.

The awards go to Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin; United Launch Services, part of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) joint venture between Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp; and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.

The three contracts are part of a Department of Defense initiative to assure constant military access to space and curb reliance on foreign-made rocket engines, like ULA's flagship Atlas V rocket that uses Russian-made RD-180 boosters. The contracts are to develop rockets and carry defence payloads into space.

Centennial, Colorado-based United Launch Services received $967 million to develop its Vulcan rocket; Kent, Washington-based Blue Origin was awarded $500 million to build its New Glenn booster, and Northrop Grumman of Arizona received $791.6 million for its OmegA rocket.&nbsp;

Blue Origin's and Northrop's prototype vehicles for military launches are expected to be ready to fly by late 2024 and ULA's Vulcan rocket development should be completed by March 2025.

Blue Origin said in a statement following Wednesday's announcement that it will build a launch site at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, although it did not say what rockets would launch from the site. ULA announced in September that its Vulcan rocket will be powered by Blue's BE-4 liquid rocket engines.&nbsp;

The US Air Force on Wednesday said that it had awarded a total $2.3 billion in contracts to develop rocket launch systems for national security missions. The awards go to Amazon.

The US Air Force on Wednesday said that it had awarded a total $2.3 billion in contracts to develop rocket launch systems for national security missions. The awards go to Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin; United Launch Services, part of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) joint venture between Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp; and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. The three contracts are part of a Department of Defense initiative to assure constant military access to space and curb reliance on foreign-made rocket engines, like ULA's flagship Atlas V rocket that uses Russian-made RD-180 boosters. The contracts are to develop rockets and carry defence payloads into space. Centennial, Colorado-based United Launch Services received $967 million to develop its Vulcan rocket; Kent, Washington-based Blue Origin was awarded $500 million to build its New Glenn booster, and Northrop Grumman of Arizona received $791.6 million for its OmegA rocket. Blue Origin's and Northrop's prototype vehicles for military launches are expected to be ready to fly by late 2024 and ULA's Vulcan rocket development should be completed by March 2025. Blue Origin said in a statement following Wednesday's announcement that it will build a launch site at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, although it did not say what rockets would launch from the site. ULA announced in September that its Vulcan rocket will be powered by Blue's BE-4 liquid rocket engines.

Bezos' Blue Origin and others get $2.3 billion in US Air Force rocket contracts

Jeff Bezos' space company is in the conceptual design phase of a large lunar lander that it says will provide reusable access to the moon's surface and its resources, Blue Origin said on Wednesday.

The lander is part of Blue Origin's broader mission of enabling a future in which millions of people live and work in space, the company said.

"The next logical step in this path is a return to the Moon," Blue Origin said in a statement. "To do this we need reusable access to the lunar surface and its resources."<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Anx6Xd_Zr6Y" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The company, founded by Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Bezos, has said it aims to land on the moon in about five years. The company offered no details on Wednesday about how it would move from the design phase to moon missions in this time frame.

Blue Origin is also developing its New Shepard rocket for short space tourism trips and a heavy-lift launch rocket called New Glenn for satellite launch contracts.

Blue's launch vehicles face strong competition from several other aerospace companies, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

Jeff Bezos' space company is in the conceptual design phase of a large lunar lander that it says will provide reusable access to the moon's surface and its resources, Blue Origin said on Wednesday.

Jeff Bezos' space company is in the conceptual design phase of a large lunar lander that it says will provide reusable access to the moon's surface and its resources, Blue Origin said on Wednesday. The lander is part of Blue Origin's broader mission of enabling a future in which millions of people live and work in space, the company said. "The next logical step in this path is a return to the Moon," Blue Origin said in a statement. "To do this we need reusable access to the lunar surface and its resources." The company, founded by Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Bezos, has said it aims to land on the moon in about five years. The company offered no details on Wednesday about how it would move from the design phase to moon missions in this time frame. Blue Origin is also developing its New Shepard rocket for short space tourism trips and a heavy-lift launch rocket called New Glenn for satellite launch contracts. Blue's launch vehicles face strong competition from several other aerospace companies, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

Jeff Bezos' space company designing large lunar lander

Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, has won a contract to supply engines for United Launch Alliance's massive Vulcan rocket, the companies said on Thursday.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/business-%26-economy/after-apple-jeff-bezos-led-amazon-hits-1-trillion-in-market-value-163628">Also Read: After Apple, Jeff Bezos-led Amazon hits $1 trillion in market value</a>

While Blue Origin has been seen as the front-runner for the contract for months, the win is a significant milestone for the Seattle-area aerospace company as it vies to become a player in the market for lucrative US military satellite launch contracts.

Choosing Blue Origin's made-in-America BE-4 engine for the next-generation heavy-lift Vulcan launch vehicle is part of ULA's path to ending US reliance on Russia's RD-180 engine for national security missions. That engine currently provides the main power for ULA's legacy workhorse, Atlas V, which the Vulcan will eventually replace.

United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of aerospace stalwarts Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, picked Blue Origin's BE-4 engine to power Vulcan's core booster over the AR1 engine put up by Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc.

"United Launch Alliance is the premier launch service provider for national security missions, and we're thrilled to be part of their team and that mission," Blue Origin's CEO, Bob Smith, said in a statement.

The terms of the contract were not disclosed, but engines represent a major portion of the cost of a rocket.

Aerojet Rocketdyne spokesman Steve Warren said the company was "still excited to be on team Vulcan." Aerojet's RL10 engine will provide power to the Vulcan rocket's upper stage.

ULA said in announcing the contract award that Vulcan was on track for an initial flight in mid-2020, though industry sources expect that deadline to be extended.

Bezos is funnelling $1 billion of his own fortune annually into Blue Origin as it scrambles to fly its own heavy-lift launch vehicle, dubbed New Glenn, in 2020. New Glenn will also be powered by Blue Origin's BE-4 engine and eventually compete with ULA's Vulcan, raising questions about the clarity of Bezos' strategy.

"Nobody disputes that with the investment they're making they won't eventually be successful," Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium Communications Inc, told Reuters in August. "But how and when they become reliable is still uncertain."

Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, has won a contract to supply engines for United Launch Alliance's massive Vulcan rocket, the companies said on Thursday.

Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, has won a contract to supply engines for United Launch Alliance's massive Vulcan rocket, the companies said on Thursday. Also Read: After Apple, Jeff Bezos-led Amazon hits $1 trillion in market value While Blue Origin has been seen as the front-runner for the contract for months, the win is a significant milestone for the Seattle-area aerospace company as it vies to become a player in the market for lucrative US military satellite launch contracts. Choosing Blue Origin's made-in-America BE-4 engine for the next-generation heavy-lift Vulcan launch vehicle is part of ULA's path to ending US reliance on Russia's RD-180 engine for national security missions. That engine currently provides the main power for ULA's legacy workhorse, Atlas V, which the Vulcan will eventually replace. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of aerospace stalwarts Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, picked Blue Origin's BE-4 engine to power Vulcan's core booster over the AR1 engine put up by Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. "United Launch Alliance is the premier launch service provider for national security missions, and we're thrilled to be part of their team and that mission," Blue Origin's CEO, Bob Smith, said in a statement. The terms of the contract were not disclosed, but engines represent a major portion of the cost of a rocket. Aerojet Rocketdyne spokesman Steve Warren said the company was "still excited to be on team Vulcan." Aerojet's RL10 engine will provide power to the Vulcan rocket's upper stage. ULA said in announcing the contract award that Vulcan was on track for an initial flight in mid-2020, though industry sources expect that deadline to be extended. Bezos is funnelling $1 billion of his own fortune annually into Blue Origin as it scrambles to fly its own heavy-lift launch vehicle, dubbed New Glenn, in 2020. New Glenn will also be powered by Blue Origin's BE-4 engine and eventually compete with ULA's Vulcan, raising questions about the clarity of Bezos' strategy. "Nobody disputes that with the investment they're making they won't eventually be successful," Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium Communications Inc, told Reuters in August. "But how and when they become reliable is still uncertain."

Jeff Bezos-led Blue Origin to supply engines for US Vulcan rocket

China for the first time today launched a privately developed rocket the "Chongqing Liangjiang Star" with an eye towards sending a permanent manned space station into orbit by 2022.

OneSpace Technology, a Beijing-based private firm manufactured the rocket which was powered by solid fuel engine, company chairman Mao Chao said. The company aims to send 10 rocket missions by next year. "I hope we can become one of the biggest small-satellite launchers in the world," company founder Shu said.

The rocket has a 100 kg payload, significantly it uses energy-saving technology instead of internet power.&nbsp;

Chinese state media said One Space is the result of the Chinese government's effort to foster commercial space flight.

“We will develop bigger rockets in the future and participate in the global competition,” Shu added. Shu Chang added that his startup OneSpace mirrored Musk-controlled SpaceX.

The development of the Chinese military and space technology is one of President Xi's stated goals with the country spending millions of dollars on upgrading its various military hardware, including technology to power rockets, aircraft and drones.

The Chinese government tightly controls the development of space technology but the rise of OneSpace signals the country's intent to develop this space beyond government control more on the SpaceX and Jeff Bezos led-Blue Origin of the US.

Reports said the goal&nbsp;of the first flight of OneSpace was to collect data for a classified research project. 
&nbsp;

The rocket has a 100 kg payload, significantly it uses energy-saving technology instead of internet power.

China for the first time today launched a privately developed rocket the "Chongqing Liangjiang Star" with an eye towards sending a permanent manned space station into orbit by 2022. OneSpace Technology, a Beijing-based private firm manufactured the rocket which was powered by solid fuel engine, company chairman Mao Chao said. The company aims to send 10 rocket missions by next year. "I hope we can become one of the biggest small-satellite launchers in the world," company founder Shu said. The rocket has a 100 kg payload, significantly it uses energy-saving technology instead of internet power. Chinese state media said One Space is the result of the Chinese government's effort to foster commercial space flight. “We will develop bigger rockets in the future and participate in the global competition,” Shu added. Shu Chang added that his startup OneSpace mirrored Musk-controlled SpaceX. The development of the Chinese military and space technology is one of President Xi's stated goals with the country spending millions of dollars on upgrading its various military hardware, including technology to power rockets, aircraft and drones. The Chinese government tightly controls the development of space technology but the rise of OneSpace signals the country's intent to develop this space beyond government control more on the SpaceX and Jeff Bezos led-Blue Origin of the US. Reports said the goal of the first flight of OneSpace was to collect data for a classified research project.

Watch: In a first, China launches privately owned rocket, eyes space station in 2022

Jeff Bezos takes everything related to Blue Origin and Amazon quite seriously. The wealthiest man in the world recently took to Twitter and shared American television host, comedian and producer Conan O' Brien's joke that stated that Bezos will spend "the majority of his fortune getting himself into space".

The Amazon CEO shared an image from O'Brien's joke on Tuesday night’s episode of “Conan” and shared it on his social accounts.

Bezos' post sported a smiley and had Team Coco and Blue Origin tagged in it. Once again Bezos reinstated his seriousness about space exploration and his ability to bounce-off trolls and jokes with much ease.&nbsp;&nbsp;

"I have seen what you people buy, and I don't want to near you," Conan quoted Bezos in his joke.&nbsp;

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? <a href="https://twitter.com/ConanOBrien?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ConanOBrien</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/blueorigin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BlueOrigin</a> <a href="https://t.co/x3BiCpaLQA">pic.twitter.com/x3BiCpaLQA</a>
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Bezos-led Blue Origin is an aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Kent, Washington that closely chases Bezos dream of space exploration and finding an alternative planet habitable for humans.&nbsp;

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's intention to colonise the Red Planet is not unknown to the world.&nbsp;

Last year in September, Musk unveiled ambitious plans to send cargo ships to Mars in five years and use rockets to carry people between Earth's major cities in under half-an-hour.

The founder of SpaceX said a planned interplanetary transport system, codenamed BFR (Big Fucking Rocket), would be downsized so it could carry out a range of tasks that would then pay for future Mars missions.

Musk said his firm had started building the system, with the construction of the first ship to start in six to nine months.

"I feel fairly confident that we can complete the ship and launch in about five years," Musk added.

On the other hand, last year Bezos made an announcement of Blue Origin's plan to launch paying passengers on 11-minute space rides this year. Reports suggest Bezos sells $1 billion of Amazon stock every year to fund his rocket venture.&nbsp;

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's intention to colonise the Red Planet is not unknown to the world

Jeff Bezos takes everything related to Blue Origin and Amazon quite seriously. The wealthiest man in the world recently took to Twitter and shared American television host, comedian and producer Conan O' Brien's joke that stated that Bezos will spend "the majority of his fortune getting himself into space". The Amazon CEO shared an image from O'Brien's joke on Tuesday night’s episode of “Conan” and shared it on his social accounts. Bezos' post sported a smiley and had Team Coco and Blue Origin tagged in it. Once again Bezos reinstated his seriousness about space exploration and his ability to bounce-off trolls and jokes with much ease. "I have seen what you people buy, and I don't want to near you," Conan quoted Bezos in his joke. ? @ConanOBrien @BlueOrigin pic.twitter.com/x3BiCpaLQA — Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) May 2, 2018 × Bezos-led Blue Origin is an aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Kent, Washington that closely chases Bezos dream of space exploration and finding an alternative planet habitable for humans. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's intention to colonise the Red Planet is not unknown to the world. Last year in September, Musk unveiled ambitious plans to send cargo ships to Mars in five years and use rockets to carry people between Earth's major cities in under half-an-hour. The founder of SpaceX said a planned interplanetary transport system, codenamed BFR (Big Fucking Rocket), would be downsized so it could carry out a range of tasks that would then pay for future Mars missions. Musk said his firm had started building the system, with the construction of the first ship to start in six to nine months. "I feel fairly confident that we can complete the ship and launch in about five years," Musk added. On the other hand, last year Bezos made an announcement of Blue Origin's plan to launch paying passengers on 11-minute space rides this year. Reports suggest Bezos sells $1 billion of Amazon stock every year to fund his rocket venture.

Jeff Bezos to spend 'majority of his fortune' getting into space  

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk plans to blast off his own Tesla roadster Tuesday, atop the world&#39;s most powerful rocket in operation, the Falcon Heavy, to the tune of David Bowie&#39;s &quot;Space Oddity.&quot;&nbsp;

Here are some of the other far-out space projects that Musk has cooked up in recent years.

Reusable rockets&nbsp;

To bring down the cost of spaceflight and boost efficiency, a key goal for Musk is to make rockets as re-usable as commercial airplanes, instead of tossing the multi-million dollar components after each launch.&nbsp;

After some early crashes and near-misses that prompted SpaceX to showcase them in a blooper reel, the company has now perfected the art of firing the booster&#39;s engines, maneuvering the grid fins and neatly landing the tall portion of the rockets upright on solid ground and on ocean platforms.

Musk&#39;s not the only one to have done it -- competitor Blue Origin, a rocket company run by Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, has also managed to land its own rockets in a similar fashion.

But no one has done it so many times. SpaceX has landed 21 of its Falcon 9 boosters so far.

Colonizing Mars&nbsp;

Musk wants to make humans an &quot;interplanetary species&quot; by establishing a colony of people living on the Mars.&nbsp;

Riding on reusable rockets and spaceships -- still under development -- people could travel 100 at a time to the Red Planet.&nbsp;

The idea is to bring up to a million people to Mars in the next century. Test flights could start in the next decade.

The cost to develop the rocket and spacecraft is estimated at $10 billion.

&nbsp;BFR&nbsp;

SpaceX is calling the rocket that would carry all these people to Mars &quot;BFR,&quot; which Musk has jokingly -- or not -- referred to as code for &quot;Big F-ing Rocket.&quot;&nbsp;

According to Spacenews.com, its formal name is now understood to be &quot;Big Falcon Rocket.&quot;

The idea is to have one booster and ship that replaces three of SpaceX&#39;s signature projects -- the Falcon 9 rocket which blasts off the Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station, the Falcon Heavy which aims to be the world&#39;s most powerful rocket for now, and may one day ferry supplies to Mars.

The BFR is designed to stand 106 meters tall, with 10.8 million pounds of thrust, far more than the Saturn V moon rocket at 7.9 million pounds of thrust.&nbsp;

The first tests could come as early 2019, with orbital tests in 2020.

The first cargo shipments could make it to Mars in 2022, SpaceX has said.

Rockets on Earth &nbsp;

New York to Shanghai via rocket in 39 minutes? It&#39;s all part of Musk&#39;s vision for rocket travel on Earth.

The BFR will be the vehicle, Musk has vowed, to fly to most places on Earth in under 30 mins and anywhere in under 60.

The cost per seat would be about the same as an airplane economy fare, he said.

Cargo and crew to space&nbsp;

It&#39;s seems like old news now, but SpaceX made history in 2010 by becoming the first private company to send its own spaceship to orbit and recover it.

In 2012, SpaceX broke barriers again, sending its Dragon cargo ship to the orbiting International Space Station.

That same year, SpaceX began regular cargo missions to supply the astronauts living in space with its gum-drop shaped Dragon cargo ship, launched atop the Falcon 9 rocket, under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

Orbital ATK also sends its unmanned Cygnus cargo carrier to the ISS under a $1.9 billion deal with NASA.&nbsp;

SpaceX&#39;s Dragon is the only ship that can be returned to Earth intact. The Cygnus burns up on re-entry to Earth&#39;s atmosphere.

SpaceX is developing a crew Dragon vehicle that will be able to transport several astronauts at a time to the space lab. Its first manned flight could come later this year. 
&nbsp;

SpaceX will launch the world's most powerful rocket Tuesday, with a car strapped on top and David Bowie's Space Oddity playing in the background

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk plans to blast off his own Tesla roadster Tuesday, atop the world's most powerful rocket in operation, the Falcon Heavy, to the tune of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." Here are some of the other far-out space projects that Musk has cooked up in recent years. Reusable rockets To bring down the cost of spaceflight and boost efficiency, a key goal for Musk is to make rockets as re-usable as commercial airplanes, instead of tossing the multi-million dollar components after each launch. After some early crashes and near-misses that prompted SpaceX to showcase them in a blooper reel, the company has now perfected the art of firing the booster's engines, maneuvering the grid fins and neatly landing the tall portion of the rockets upright on solid ground and on ocean platforms. Musk's not the only one to have done it -- competitor Blue Origin, a rocket company run by Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, has also managed to land its own rockets in a similar fashion. But no one has done it so many times. SpaceX has landed 21 of its Falcon 9 boosters so far. Colonizing Mars Musk wants to make humans an "interplanetary species" by establishing a colony of people living on the Mars. Riding on reusable rockets and spaceships -- still under development -- people could travel 100 at a time to the Red Planet. The idea is to bring up to a million people to Mars in the next century. Test flights could start in the next decade. The cost to develop the rocket and spacecraft is estimated at $10 billion. BFR SpaceX is calling the rocket that would carry all these people to Mars "BFR," which Musk has jokingly -- or not -- referred to as code for "Big F-ing Rocket." According to Spacenews.com, its formal name is now understood to be "Big Falcon Rocket." The idea is to have one booster and ship that replaces three of SpaceX's signature projects -- the Falcon 9 rocket which blasts off the Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station, the Falcon Heavy which aims to be the world's most powerful rocket for now, and may one day ferry supplies to Mars. The BFR is designed to stand 106 meters tall, with 10.8 million pounds of thrust, far more than the Saturn V moon rocket at 7.9 million pounds of thrust. The first tests could come as early 2019, with orbital tests in 2020. The first cargo shipments could make it to Mars in 2022, SpaceX has said. Rockets on Earth New York to Shanghai via rocket in 39 minutes? It's all part of Musk's vision for rocket travel on Earth. The BFR will be the vehicle, Musk has vowed, to fly to most places on Earth in under 30 mins and anywhere in under 60. The cost per seat would be about the same as an airplane economy fare, he said. Cargo and crew to space It's seems like old news now, but SpaceX made history in 2010 by becoming the first private company to send its own spaceship to orbit and recover it. In 2012, SpaceX broke barriers again, sending its Dragon cargo ship to the orbiting International Space Station. That same year, SpaceX began regular cargo missions to supply the astronauts living in space with its gum-drop shaped Dragon cargo ship, launched atop the Falcon 9 rocket, under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. Orbital ATK also sends its unmanned Cygnus cargo carrier to the ISS under a $1.9 billion deal with NASA. SpaceX's Dragon is the only ship that can be returned to Earth intact. The Cygnus burns up on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere. SpaceX is developing a crew Dragon vehicle that will be able to transport several astronauts at a time to the space lab. Its first manned flight could come later this year.

Five things to know about Elon Musk's space projects

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