Story of Space Travel into Commercialization

: Gayan Prasad

12/21/2020

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3 min read

"Here’s how the start of the space race began and things unfolded when the private sector tries to seize the uncharted territory of space travel."

When you turn up your head towards the night sky, ever wondered what might be out there in those millions of stars? I’m sure you have. Those thoughts also have been fueled by the sci-fi stories like Star Wars and Star Trek as well. We used to think that if we could go further into the stars we might able to get in touch with intelligent alien species or find habitable earth-like (Minshara Class Planet for any Star Trek Fan) planet out there.

Space Race of the Nations

Space exploration has been a talk of scientists since the early 20th century. After the second world war ended, tension was raised between two powerhouses of the world, Russia and the United States. During this cold war, both countries want be the first one to be the nation to send a man to space and bring him safely. But in the 1950’s Russia was winning that race. They became the first country to send a satellite (Sputnik 1) and the first to send a man to space (Yuri Gagarin).

This has put the USA on the back foot and it was a blow to the pride and ego they have maintained over the years. In the 1960’s President John F. Kennedy vowed to send a man to the moon before the end of that decade. That saying was enough to turn all eyes into the USA again. After a couple of failed attempts in the Apollo program, the USA was able to send 3 men to the moon and bring them back safely using their Saturn V rocket. This attempt proved that man is destined to do extraordinary things and this should be the start of going towards planets in the solar system and further. After a few other attempts the USA decided to shut down the Apollo program due to extreme expense for a single journey.

Beginning and end of shuttle era

Then NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was more focused on unmanned satellite programs and ISS(International Space Station) They were promoting the shuttle program because a space shuttle can be reused, unlike a rocket. The space shuttle is sent to space with help of two rockets but it comes back to earth like a regular airplane. But with the unfortunate crash of the Challenger shuttle killing all the astronauts, the safety of the space shuttle came into question. NASA had no choice and they had to cancel the shuttle program and rely on Russian rockets for supply missions for ISS.

During this period 3 billionaires had their focus on the space sector. Having dominated the business world in their respective sectors they were looking closely at how things unfolding with NASA and the cancellation of the Shuttle program. Having uncharted space right in front of their eyes, they saw the opportunity and huge business value which can be gained by promoting space tourism. That made the birth of the pioneering commercial space agencies. Elon Musk with SpaceX, Jeff Besos with Blue Origin, and Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic.

SpaceX

Elon Musk had a goal of starting a space program and colonizing Mars as a tourist destination. To begin that journey he went on a trip to Russia to buy a ballistic rocket for his space program. Since he also had his homework done he came to realize that the prices are artificially overpriced. He turned down the offer and came back to the USA with the idea of building his own rockets in cost-effective way.

He understood that NASA is spending more than billions of dollars for a single rocket launch due to the so many third-party suppliers involved with the program. NASA buys the rockets and other parts from Russia, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin. Elon realized if he could build everything inside his factory he could down the expense for more than half of the current value. He made a business plan and started investing his own money to build the Falcon 1 rocket. After 3 failed attempts he could fly his rocket to space.

This successful breakthrough raised many eyebrows and concerns among government-supported companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing. They brought Elon to the senate and questioned his space program. Elon showed how much less expensive and reliable his rockets are and ultimately won a deal for supply missions to ISS. He made sure that money spend in the proper way and invested in R&D to develop a rocket that can be landed back on earth without destroying it by putting it in the ocean. These reusable rockets helped Musk to save millions of dollars from a single launch.

At the moment, SpaceX has plans to send the first human to Mars in 2021.

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic

Although largely overshadowed by the success of SpaceX, Blue Origin also able to build some subspace rockets which can be landed back to earth successfully. They are eyeing for NASA deal for supply missions and ultimately moon missions. They are still investing heavily in research and development to perfect their rocket craft.

Richard Branson and his outrageous business ideas are nothing new to the business world. Therefore, when he announced his space program Virgin Galactic, only a few were surprised (Being optimistic, he has already registered Virgin Intergalactic as well). Virgin Galactic is more focused on space tourism, giving a feeling of weightlessness to their travelers in their spacecraft by just going out of the atmosphere than deep outer space missions. He had few successful missions and an explosion in his virgin galactic factory killing 3 of the engineers have made some set back in their program.

Future of Space Travel

With the arrival of the private sector to the space missions, there has been a significant impact and progress in the technology and as well the enthusiasm of the public. During the next 10 to 20 years will be turning points of human space exploration as it might mark the colonization of Mars and deep space travel.

“Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” — Professor Brand (Interstellar)

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