This star is going to the moon

Chapter 441 What era are we living in that we're still into suborbital tourism?
Old Deng is numb.

He knew he wasn't the actual controller of the Federal Group, but merely a general manager standing in the spotlight.

Because of his age, he sometimes can't stand up, and he sometimes gets sleepy and falls asleep during meetings.

But the actual major shareholders of these groups really showed him no respect!

So, in a fit of rage, Old Deng decided to recreate "The Führer's Wrath" in his White House office, but...

He doesn't have that much control over the group.

In a fit of rage, he killed the office manager, Smith...

The intern who was specifically in charge of tweeting has been fired!

They claimed it was a blunder, that an intern was unfamiliar with the procedures and took it upon himself to post a tweet in Old Deng's voice wishing the Vulcan rocket a successful maiden flight and the Peregrine lunar lander a successful landing.

Okay, although they gave a reason, everyone knows it's just an attempt to shift the blame.

Because this approach is too classic.

Let's not even mention those who were praising it to the skies one moment, only to feel awkward the next, and then pretend nothing happened.

Chinese netizens immediately rushed to mock him.

[Wow, this is hilarious! When I first saw this tweet, I knew it would be funny, and it was!]

I feel that ever since the US elected Trump a few years ago, its management has become increasingly unserious, turning it more and more like a talent show!

That's just how it is. Elections are like talent shows; whoever is the most eccentric, has the most online presence, and is the best at bragging gets the most votes.

No, there are some differences. In a normal talent show, at least openly, votes cannot be bought. But elections have campaign committees, crowdfunded campaign funds, and most importantly, big donors, so it's practically an open secret that votes are bought.

I thought Trump was the only abstract president in the US, and that he would be more stable and traditional, but it turns out he's quite abstract too.

It's already quite abstract that the US could elect an 80-year-old man as president.

Like the US under President Biden, it seems to be entering a late stage, having lost much of its former vitality. Take space exploration, for example; in the last century, the US space program was incredibly powerful, unlike now, where even the maiden flight of a rocket to launch an unmanned lunar lander can be delayed by two or three years.

[The key point is that a two- or three-year delay is not the end; some space enthusiasts feel that the Vulcan rocket can rival the infamous "pigeon rocket" SLS.]

Good heavens, the SLS heavy-lift rocket is notorious for being a procrastinator. Its development has been delayed so many times over the years, but it's finally going to have its maiden flight next year, just like the newly approved heavy-lift Long March 10 rocket.

[Is it really possible for our Long March 10 heavy-lift lunar rocket to make its maiden flight next year? After all, its project initiation time is too short, and most importantly, its chief designer, Lu Yun, is not leading the research team now, but instead filming a TV series.]

[It's obvious that the higher-ups have more confidence than we do, because they know that Lu Yun carries the weight of China's millennia-old dream of landing on the moon, yet they still allowed him to "neglect his duties" by making TV dramas. They must know that the Long March 10 heavy-lift rocket is on track.]

[Yes, when it comes to manned lunar landings, we're basically just watching the show, while the higher-ups have actually made plans and invested money; it's a matter of national strategy, so they're more anxious than we are.]

That's all right then, let's wait for good news.

[There's also good news from the US. Although the maiden flight of the Vulcan rocket has been postponed, a competitor to Lu Yun's commercial space tourism has arrived.]

[Ah, the God of Space shuttle commercial space tourism has a competitor? Let me see what's going on?]

I'll go check it out too...

Actually, there are rivals, two in fact.

They are Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, and Virgin Galactic, owned by billionaire Richard Branson.

Their "space tour" tickets are cheaper than Louisiana's Space Shuttle tickets, costing only $25!
Of course, the reason it's so cheap is because they're doing suborbital "space tourism".

Virgin Galactic was the first of these two companies to work on this concept; it built a suborbital spacecraft in the early 2000s.

Its design is somewhat similar to a "two-stage-to-orbit spacecraft," consisting of two spacecraft, one large and one small. The larger spacecraft carries the spacecraft into the air, and then the smaller manned spacecraft activates its rocket engine to fly into space. However, Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft cannot enter orbit; it can only fly just over the 100-kilometer-high "Kármán line," and is not an orbital-entry spacecraft.

So the passengers inside just get to see the curvature of the Earth, the deep blue space, and experience a few minutes of weightlessness.

In the beginning, Virgin Galactic built the large aircraft "White Knight" and the manned "SpaceShipOne".

The "White Knight" aircraft has a very strange design, resembling the wings of two large-wingspan drones joined together, with a cockpit installed at the joint.

The reason for this design is to leave a large space under the central wing to carry "SpaceShipOne".

(White Knight and Spaceship One)
SpaceShipOne is not large, with a length and wingspan of only 5 meters, and its wings can be folded up.

Yes, it means sticking it out.

SpaceShipOne
Its cabin is only 1.5 meters in diameter, so people have to bend over to find a seat.

SpaceShipOne completed its test flight in June 3, and twice flew across the 100-kilometer "Kármán line" with three pilots in late September and early October.

He then received the $1000 million Ansari X Prize.

This award is an innovation competition in the aerospace field launched in 1996, aiming to encourage private teams to break through private manned spaceflight technology with a high prize of US$10 million.

The award requires participants to build an aircraft with more than 80% reusable parts, and then transport three passengers or equivalent cargo to 100 kilometers into space and return safely twice within two weeks.

White Knight and Spaceship One did it, but were retired after only three flights!
After all, its main goal is testing and winning awards.

After receiving the prize money and some investment, Virgin Galactic began developing the larger White Knight 2 and SpaceShipTwo, and made their maiden flight in 2010.

White Knight II was larger and more beautiful than White Knight I, and it also changed the single-cabin structure to a two-cabin structure.

SpaceShipTwo has a similar structure to SpaceShipOne, only it is larger and more aesthetically pleasing.

(White Knight II and Spaceship II)

They made their maiden flight in 2010, and then conducted four more test flights at an altitude of 20 kilometers in 2013 and 2014.

If it had been able to start commercial flights at that time, it would have been very attractive, but its last test flight in 2014 resulted in an accident in which the aircraft disintegrated, killing one pilot and injuring another.

Then it remained silent for four years, until 2018 when it built a new spacecraft and was able to test fly again.

There have been seven more manned test flights so far.

Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket was a little later, with its first unmanned flight in 2012, and it has since conducted 15 unmanned test flights!
(The uniquely designed New Shepard rocket)

If these two suborbital "space tourism" vehicles had started commercial operation in 2015, they would have definitely recouped their costs by now.

However, now, Lu Yun's "Wooden Kite" class space shuttle is already conducting real orbital commercial space tourism. Even though their $25 price tag is much cheaper than $150 million, the customer base is still quite worrying.

after all……

"What era are we living in? Who still does suborbital tourism?"

Yes, brother, yes!

Those are the founders of these two companies!

They all decided to go into space in July aboard their own company's spacecraft.

Of course, it's the "Kármán line" in space, which is just over 100 kilometers high.

After all, it's our own company's property, so we have to sit down and have a look, even if it's tough!

(End of this chapter)