posted 10-02-2021 08:31 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Cliff Lentz:
The rich will always find a way to write their own rules.

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The prices are as they are today because of the limited number of seats that are available to offset the costs of the activity. If the companies can fill the available seats, build more vehicles and launch more often, the price will come down.

All indications are the companies want the price to come down. They want to be able to offer a $10,000 to $25,000 seat as that is what market studies show is the best price point for sustained profit. At that point it is in the reach of a very wide audience and the economics of even lower fares becomes possible.

posted 10-02-2021 09:40 PM               

Routes that don't fit the economic model of the large carriers are picked up by the smaller carriers who operate cheaper fleets or run with smaller margins, or, the route is deemed to be uneconomical to run and not catered for.

On the larger routes, there is competition between carriers whereby the consumer can choose which carrier to use based upon price, service provided, or schedule.

For people who live or work in remote areas or areas not regularly serviced by regular airline travel, they understand how, if you need to airfreight and item or charter a flight to access the non-serviced regions, the cost can be extreme.

Commercial spaceflight is in its embryonic state, not yet at the point where a market has been established, where routes have been established, where fully reusable vehicles or the infrastructure to service such has been established, or where competition exists.

Musk has stated that he wants SpaceX to develop a fully reusable vehicle whereby a turnaround service consisting of refueling the vehicle, swapping crew, replenishing the inflight food and drinks, and making sure that the inflight entertainment system is working, is all that would be required to turn the spacecraft around and fly the next route. Until then, the cost of a launch vehicle is still a major factor in the price per seat.

Consider the Concorde aircraft. The supersonic service between London and New York was an expensive service to operate, with the aircraft requiring something like 22 hours in the hanger for servicing per hour in flight, only had first-class ticket option, was restricted by where it could operate, and the use of exotic materials required specialized skills and tooling to maintain.

The Concorde was expensive to operate and the cost was passed down to the users, who were originally people who had to travel for business and could afford the high-priced ticket, or rich people. Yet the aircraft operating costs were well understood. In the end, the development of the internet that allowed the business transactions that required to be done in person could now be done online killed the market for Concorde, and while the operators tried to fill seats with tourists, eventually it proved uneconomical to continue use.

For any commercial space venture to work, there must be a market. There must be a vehicle that can cater to the market, and there must be the infrastructure in place to service the vehicle. None of this exists yet. There is not a vehicle capable of carrying a commercially viable passenger or freight load on a regular schedule on a publicised route. There is not a long list of passengers queuing at the gate to board such a service, and there are no spaceports in big cities, designed to service the masses. Commercial spaceflight is a boutique market, there are very few places you can launch from, no metropolitan places you can land at. Instead, we have a system under development, and Statler and Waldorf sitting on the balcony complaining that spaceflight will only ever be for the rich.

Any manufacturer developing a commercially viable passenger rocket needs to produce a vehicle comparable to a DC-3 or Boeing 737, not a Concorde.

posted 10-04-2021 11:32 AM            

During Inspiration4, ingress and exit the "Resilience" capsule:

• Hayley "NOVA" Arceneaux;
  
• Sian Hayley "Leo" Proctor;
  
• Christopher "Hanks" Sembroski;
  
• Jared "Rook" Isaacman

posted 10-10-2021 10:11 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by cosmos-walter:
Did Inspiration4 crew members suffer from space sickness?

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The first day, I wasn't feeling very good. Space sickness is one of those things that a lot of people suffer from. You’re just not on your game. And then the second day you're feeling better, but your head is a little stuffy. But man, I woke up the third day, and I was humming, and everything was perfect.

quote:

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Originally posted by dom:
...three days must be about the maximum duration before it gets very unpleasant aboard.

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I would go for longer. Three days was not enough. That's the big thing...

...I woke up the third day, and I was humming, and everything was perfect. I had adapted, I was good, and I was like, What? I have to come home?! No, no, no! So I think, ideally, a five-day mission in the Dragon capsule with the cupola would be perfect.

posted 10-26-2021 06:20 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by dom:
That the toilet broke down proves that Dragon is not really designed for solo missions of more than a few days.

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SpaceX has already redesigned the toilet for Endurance and will replace the toilets on Endeavour and Resilience.

A tube that funnels urine into a tank broke loose during the Inspiration4 mission and leaked into the fan, which sprayed the urine in an enclosed area beneath Crew Dragon's floor, Bill Gerstenmaier, a SpaceX official who once oversaw human spaceflight for NASA, told reporters on Monday night. He said the four passengers didn't notice anything was wrong during the mission. [...]

Another Crew Dragon capsule that docked to the space station in April with four astronauts aboard has the same plumbing system as the Inspiration4 capsule. SpaceX engineers feared the same "contamination" might have occurred on that spacecraft.

The engineers' suspicions were correct.

NASA astronauts living on the station snaked a borescope device — a cable with a tiny camera at the end — underneath the capsule's floor and discovered traces of urine in places it shouldn't be, Mr. Gerstenmaier said. "Yes, there was some indication of some contamination under the floor," he said.

That raised new concerns. In space, urine is mixed with a potentially corrosive compound, oxone, to eliminate ammonia. Could the oxone-laced urine, sitting in the capsule for months, have corroded any crucial hardware?

To answer this question, Mr. Gersteinmaier said, SpaceX engineers on Earth gathered aluminum parts similar to those on the spacecraft and created a sampling of urine mixed with oxone. They soaked the parts and placed them inside a chamber that mimicked the humidity conditions aboard the space station for "an extended period of time," Mr. Gerstenmaier said. [...]

The results of the ground tests appear positive so far, he said: "Luckily, or, on purpose, we chose an aluminum alloy that is very insensitive to corrosion."

posted 11-08-2021 02:02 PM               

From Gene Mikulka (via Twitter):

[Citing Polk] We've flown hip and bone prosthetics before the Inspiration4 mission but we're not in the habit of calling that out. Didn't want to take away from Hayley's time and change that narrative. Didn't want to come in and "rain on their day."

posted 01-27-2022 09:37 AM               

Though Hippchen's secret is finally out, that doesn't make it any easier knowing he missed his chance to orbit Earth because he exceeded the weight limit. He still hasn't watched the Netflix series on the three-day flight purchased by a tech entrepreneur for himself and three guests last September.

"It hurts too much," he said. "I'm insanely disappointed. But it is what it is."

Hippchen, 43, a Florida-based captain for Delta's regional carrier Endeavor Air, recently shared his story with The Associated Press during his first visit to NASA's Kennedy Space Center since his lost rocket ride.

posted 07-18-2022 10:14 AM               

Space beckons us. It taunts us. Images from Hubble and JWST pull on our desires to explore and to seek out new adventure.

I am thrilled to be a part of our expansion out to the rest of the universe! Let's go!