Blue Origin has released photos of the crew capsule for its space tourism ride:
Private spaceflight company Blue Origin has released the first interior photos for the New Shepard, offering a glimpse at what the finished crew capsule will look like.
New Shepard is a reusable vehicle aimed at taking tourists to the edge of space, where they can float around weightless for a few minutes. The rocket has been successfully launched and landed five times already, but no people have ridden in the capsule yet. Blue Origin is planning to take its first paying customers to space by 2018, according to CEO Jeff Bezos.
The photos of New Shepard look quite different from the interior of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. But while the New Shepard focuses on tourism, the main purpose for Crew Dragon is to send astronauts to the International Space Station. (Though CEO Elon Musk recently announced that he plans to send two tourists around the moon in the spaceship in 2018.)
Also at Space.com. From the Blue Origin astronaut experience:
You'll also belong to an exclusive Blue Origin alumni network—a community of modern space pioneers. Make history with a suborbital flight, and you will receive early access to purchase tickets for our future orbital missions.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday April 02 2017, @02:44AM (2 children)
How bad can a few minutes of weightlessness be? Surely not as bad as ascent and descent?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by rts008 on Sunday April 02 2017, @03:17AM
I think the problem comes from the effects of microgravity on our inner ear. That sensation of falling associated with roller coasters is too much for some people to deal with as a constant condition.
I am speculating that more people can deal with a 'steady pressure', than with constantly 'falling'. I would imagine a lot of this phenomenon is 'in our head', due to 'uncertainty', at the time.(just my view from many parachute jumps/drops in the military)
Imagine falling, but full time...no reprieve. There is a good reason the plane used to train space-goers is nicknamed the "Vomit Comet".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 02 2017, @03:18AM
NASA's zero g airplane isn't called the vomit comet for nothing, and it only gives short periods of weightlessness. As far as I know the problems of simulator sickness and also space sickness are not fully understood, and there aren't good ways to predict who and when they will occur. But if you get either, there is a high chance you will empty out your stomach.
Maybe Blue Origin will insist on fasting before flight?