In 2021, mankind outdid itself by becoming bolder and exploring further than anybody had anticipated. This year, through space tourism, we learned more about our neighboring worlds and uncovered the secrets of far-off cosmic entities and 'touch' stars and make space travel more accessible.Now, as we get ready for some more fascinating projects in 2022, let's take a look back at the stories that dominated the space industry in 2021. The top space tourism developments during the past 12 months are listed below.
Virgin Galactic Unity 22 - July 2021
Virgin Galactic Unity 22 was the 22nd flight test for VSS Unity and Virgin Galactic's fourth crewed spaceflight, which launched on July 11, 2021. Science Times said the suborbital spaceflight mission was also the first to carry an entire crew onboard the spacecraft, including two pilots and four mission experts, to assess astronaut experience. According to Virgin Galactic's website, Richard Branson, the company's founder, was one of the mission professionals who tested the private astronaut experience. The mission was piloted by David Mackay and Michael Masucci, with mission experts Sirisha Bandla, Colin Bennett, Beth Moses, and Branson. The crew attained an apogee of more than 86 kilometers, and the suborbital flight did not exceed the Karman line, as it had done on the previous Unity mission.
Blue Origin NS-16 - July 2021
New Shepard's maiden human flight took place on July 20, 2021, with four private people aboard. Science Times said Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daeman were the crew members. When they crossed the Karman line, the four people became astronauts.
The New Shepard launch vehicle and spacecraft flew for the sixteenth time from Blue Origin's Corn Ranch suborbital launch pad in Texas on the New Shepard rocket NS4 and the spacecraft RSS First Step. For several reasons, the mission was historic. Oliver Daemen, 18 years old, is the first commercial astronaut to buy a ticket and go to space on a privately-funded and licensed spacecraft from a private launch site. New Shepard was also the first commercial spacecraft to transport paying customers, including payloads and humans, to space and back, thanks to a suborbital reusable launch vehicle license. Jeff and Mark Bezos made history when they became the first siblings to journey into space together. Funk was the oldest person to fly to space, but the record was surpassed in October 2021 when William Shatner, who was 90 at the time, traveled to space.
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Inspiration4 Flight - September 2021
Inspiration4 is the first all-civilian orbital mission ever launched. On September 15, 2021, four non-professional astronauts launched into space aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon Resilience Spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center's historic launch facility 39-A. They returned to Earth on September 18 after spending three days in Earth orbit.
Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and a seasoned pilot and explorer, was in command of Inspiration4. Medical Officer Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and a pediatric cancer survivor; Mission Specialist Chris Sembroski, an Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer; and Mission Pilot Dr. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist, entrepreneur, and trained pilot, accompanied him on the mission. The mission pillars of Leadership, Hope, Generosity, and Prosperity, respectively, were represented by Isaacman, Arceneaux, Sembroski, and Dr. Sian.
Their goal was to generate awareness and $200 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital while also researching the human body in space. The mission was given the moniker Inspiration4 in honor of the four-member crew. The mission raised roughly $154 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, falling short of the $200 million objectives by about $50 million.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, tweeted after the crew returned to Earth, saying: "Count me in for $50M."
Count me in for $50M
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 19, 2021
Through a tweet, St. Jude thanked SpaceX and Inspiration4 crew "for thinking beyond our planet and making things better for all of us here now and in the future."
Filming in Space - October 2021
On October 5, 2021, a Russian film team led by actress Yulia Peresild and filmmaker Klim Shipenko launched to the International Space Station to film the first full-length fictitious film in space. The mission was launched from Baikonur spaceport aboard the Soyuz MS-19 crewed spacecraft to the International Space Station, commanded by cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.
The team spent 12 days on the ISS filming scenes for the world's first full film shot in space. Roscosmos, Channel One, and the Yellow, Black, and White film studio collaborated on the film, now titled 'Vyozov,' which means 'The Challenge.'
Peresild and Shipenko returned to Earth on a Soyuz MS-18 crewed spacecraft on October 17 after spending 12 days in orbit. Cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy was in charge of the return trip. According to a statement from Roscosmos, the majority of the material in the video was filmed in space.
Blue Origin NS-18 - October 2021
William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek series, launched into space with Blue Origin's NS-18 mission on October 13.
William Shatner, 90, became the oldest man to journey to space 50 years after his debut as Captain Kirk in the Star Trek original series.
From Corn Ranch or Launch Site One, Texas, Shatner and three other crew members blasted into space on Blue Origin's New Shepard NS-18. Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of Planet Labs, Glen de Vries, co-founder of clinical research platform Medidata solutions, and Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's Vice President of Mission and Flight Operations, were among the other members of the NS-18 crew. De Vries died tragically in a car accident in November 2021.
From liftoff until capsule landing, the flight lasted roughly 11 minutes and reached a height of 66.5 miles. This was also a suborbital trip, just as Blue Origin's previous crewed mission.
The team traveled above the Karman line and endured three to four minutes of weightlessness.
Soyuz MS-20 Mission - December 2021
Japanese millionaire and online fashion mogul Yusaku Maezawa, his production assistant Yozo Hirano, and experienced Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin flew to the International Space Station aboard a Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft on December 8, 2021. It is part of the Soyuz MS-20 mission, NASA Space Flight said. For the first time in a decade, a self-funded space tourism trip to the International Space Station was launched. Misurkin, who is in his third spaceflight, is the commander of the 12-day mission.
The astronauts aren't part of any of the orbiting laboratory's Expeditions. Space Adventures' Maezawa and Hirano are two space passengers. The mission launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was a partnership between Roscosmos and Space Adventures. The team returned to Earth on Monday, December 20.
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