Governments have always had a monopoly on spaceflight. I remember as a kid seeing the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Space travel to orbiting space stations, and the moon were trivial and people went there for business or a holiday. This was the promise that the U.S. government foisted onto a trusting populace to justify their being looted for a government (and secret military) space program. It was a promise they never intended to deliver. Indeed, NASA persuaded the Justice Dept. to prosecute those who from time to time attempted to fly or help those fly as a tourist on a Russian space flight.

We had a civilian moon program, Apollo that never had a single civilian astronaut until the final mission, Apollo 17. And even then a civilian geologist-astronaut, Jack Schmitt, only got to go because they kicked one of the military astronauts off to make room after scientists made a stink.

We have had a low orbit space shuttle that really had no purpose. A low orbit space station that goes around and around and really has no purpose. And yes, we finally have civilian astronauts for these civilian missions. But to what end? Where is it going? And do we even care?

Every generation produces dreamers, and sometimes those dreamers get to be very wealthy and being dreamers they risk their wealth on what would be an unimaginable dream to the prior generation. So it is with this time and space travel. More than one entrepreneur knowns damned well if they are ever going to space they will have to do it themselves. This is the story about the first of them.


1. SpaceShipOne

Famed unconventional aircraft designer, Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites unveiled a gawky looking airplane in 2002 that had people scratching their heads. It looked to be capable of a fairly high altitude flight. It stood taller than normal leading to speculation it was a mothership designed to carry something up to altitude and drop it. It had a very strange cockpit window design. The aircraft was named the WhiteKnight.



A decade previously, Burt Rutan gained experience designing the wing on the first stage of an unmanned rocket, Pegasus, designed to be launched at high altitude from a B-52 or an converted airliner and allowing a small satellite to be put into low orbit.

In retrospect, looking at the WhiteKnight's cockpit windows it seems obvious that a manned spacecraft was intended to be dropped. [The WhiteKnight's cockpit is a mockup of the SpaceShipOne's cockpit and therefor forms a flight simulator for SpaceShipOne.] But at the time this was to be a well kept secret. Unveiling the secret SpaceShipOne with a press release in 2003, several test flights consisting of glide drops and a rocket test would occur thereafter. And finally it was announced the first powered space flight of SpaceShipOne would take place on June 21, 2004.
I posted that in my daily newsletter at the time, the Arizona Liberty News Service, which had been initially intended to help two local talk show hosts and friends Charles Goyette and Ernest Hancock with up to date statewide news. Ernie called me up and asked if I thought we should go. Hell yes, great idea! Ernie had this vision of making some signs and having some activist fun. I learned how to make signs from Ernie the next day at his house. We departed for the Mohave desert on June 20th with a rented Dodge Grand Caravan full of freedom lovers. And the rest became history.

Imagine a spontaneous gathering--unbidden-- of tens of thousands of people in the Mohave Desert. Fierce sand bearing winds howling at one on the morning after driving all afternoon to get there. Everyone there knowing that if anything went wrong before launch the mission would be postponed. Although I did not see him, Burt Rutan made the rounds that early morning amongst his fans in the throng. And as promised, after the sun started to rise the winds vanished and a beautiful crisp day arrived. We ran into several libertarian friends who had traveled to be there to witness history, including one who had flown in from England.

Billionaire Paul Allan had spent $25 million to exclusively fund Rutan's dream of a true reusable civilian sub-orbital spacecraft. SpaceShipOne had already become the first non-governmental funded craft from a privately funded company (that is, not a government funded defense contractor) to break the sound barrier.
Now SpaceShipOne had taken off attached beneath the WhiteKnight mother ship, to attempt to become the first non-government funded spacecraft. At its controls was soon to be first civilian astronaut pilot Mike Melville --- a close friend of Burt Rutan's who had inaugurally test flown many of Rutan's designs. He came close to being killed on this flight due to a design flaw.
There were occasional blasts of communication over the public address system that had been set up for the crowds to listen in as the WhiteKnight spent an hour laboring to climb up to its release height of 50,000 feet. Eventually becoming a spec against the clear blue sky.

Then came time for the release. The sun was overhead and interfering with the view, but we could hear the countdown and then the confirmed release. Eyes straining to catch a glimpse when all of a sudden SpaceShipOne fires its unique throttlerable solid fuel rocket motor (literally, he burns rubber) and the plume is unmistakable trail flying up and into the sun (or at least it disappears crossing the sun) to reappear many seconds later over the "top" of the sun. Approximate altitude readings are being given as it climbs towards the Internationally recognized (if arbitrary) designation of space: 100,000 kilometers.
And then the world's second private astronaut pilot Brian Binnie, on Oct. 4, 2004 in a flawless, efficient and fortunately uneventful flight. Accomplishing two fights in a reused 3 passenger spacecraft in under two weeks turn around secured the $10 million dollar Ansari XPrize for Paul Allen's SpaceShipOne.

Also watching the launches was another billionaire, Richard Branson, who contracted with Rutan's Scaled Composite to build SpaceShipTwo a larger passenger space liner for a new space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, making Rutan's dream come true. [Branson's Virgin Atlantic had sponsored another Rutan project GlobalFlyer which flew around the world nonstop, un-refueled by solo passenger/pilot Steve Fossett in a record 67 hours.] Flight testing has already begun and the first flights will start in 2012. And yes, it is a toy for millionaires. But it is a beginning and frankly I like the idea of millionaires getting to see how small and fragile the Earth looks below. Obviously over time costs will fall, but being a passenger will probably still remain a wealthy man's purview.

If SpaceShipTwo is commercially successful, an orbital version SpaceShipThree, will be built. This will not be a design without many challenges. Also, Burt Rutan has retired from Scaled Composites on April 1, 2010 and moved back to his home in Idaho where he is "working on one last design."


2. The Rocket Racing League

While at Rutan's Scaled Composites hanger in the Mohave desert we became aware of a adjacent hanger a company, XCOR, that was attempting to create a private spacecraft using rockets with a ground takeoff and landing. Ambitious because that takes a lot of fuel.

While they have yet to accomplish that, they evolved into a Rocket Racing League which is an amazing air race idea in which people flying rockets complete a race around a 3D course above the ground for the quickest time. And wow, will rocketships be fast! I am reminded when aircraft first started it wasn't long before the air races began. This will help propel the technology to new skills, efficiencies and performance just as car racing has done.
Financial problems of getting half a dozen pilots who can afford (or get sponsored) the rocket planes have delayed the first official race, but sooner or later it will, ahem, take off.

3. Genesis

How many of you have heard of the International Space Station (ISS)? How many of you are aware that two private space stations have been orbiting the Earth over 160 miles higher than the ISS? In fact, the first private space station, Genesis, will be celebrating it's fifth year in orbit July 12th.

Robert T. Bigelow, Las Vegas real estate mogul and owner of Budget Suites has invested millions of his own fortune in Bigelow Aerospace. His company licensed the abandoned TransHab design from NASA in which incredible inflatable space and planetary habitats were imagined. Bigelow Aerospace came through with modern fabric designs to contain atmosphere and hold up to the harsh environment of space. Genesis One was the first test design of Bigelow's space station habitat module.
Rocketing off of a launch pad in Russia July 12, 2006, the 1.6 foot diameter package inflated in orbit to 14.4 foot long and 3.4 foot in diameter space station of over 400 cubic feet of interior space. Flanking solar arrays (located at either end which serve as docking/attachment ports) are designed to automatically deploy via the energy imparted in inflating the station. In other words, if the station inflates the solar panels must deploy.

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Genesis Two, launched June 28, 2007 and is the same size as Genesis One. It is inflated to 10.5psi as opposed to Genesis One's 7.5psi. Both vehicles are continuing to perform flawlessly with respect to their atmospheric pressure maintenance and internal temperature regulation. A bevy of improvements to Genesis Two's internal sensors and maintenance equipment as well as adding the ability to control station rotation and angular momentum without expending fuel.
Things are going so well that instead of launching a bigger test bed version as planned, the first module of the envisioned space hotel (complex) called Sundancer is being assembled. While it will act as a test bed and be the first human inhibited space station, if all goes as planned it will become the first hub of several even larger modules (called BA330) modules to be added. Sundancer will have an internal volume of over 6,300 cubic feet. The BA330 modules are over 11,600 cubic feet (apiece!).
It has not been without its problems though. The United Stats' government has caused numerous delays under the exporting munitions laws that delayed shipping both Genesis modules to Russia, and the Sundancer module keeps getting pushed back on Falcon 9 (discussed next) launch schedule because NASA needs the rockets for its ISS commitment now that the Space Shuttle is retiring and NASA has no rockets. Bigelow is clearly not pleased by this. But they are still committed to a 2014 launch.

I will say of all of the space craft I am discussing today, THIS is by far the most exciting idea. I can see using these small light wight modules that inflate into big structures in space, as space ship modules attached to a support carrier and as habitats on other worlds. They seem as tough as nails. I am confident Bigelow Aerospace will pull it off.

Now besides tourism and exploration we need a genius to figure out a profitable use for outer space and harvesting what is in it. Bigelow has got the working space for you (and indeed envisions leasing space to any nation or company that cannot afford its own complete space program but can afford to lease space on the Bigelow Aerospace orbiting shelter for their own space program and astronauts) and SpaceX (below) has the launch platform to get them there and back.


4. Falcon 1, Falcon 9

Elon Musk made his millions in co-founding PayPal and is the youngest of the above entrepreneurs. Like the others, he has dreamed of working in space. And so he set about to make it happen. He created SpaceX to develop a heavy lift launch vehicle.

Falcon 1

SpaceX started out with a test bed prototype and commercial Falcon 1 rocket. A two stage partially reusable* rocket with a single engine per stage design. All engines have been designed by SpaceX. The first stage uses a Merlin 1C engine that is used on the Falcon 9 and the second stage uses a engine designated the Kestral that is designed to operate in the vacuum of space and be re-ignitable. The newer Falcon 1e (enhanced) is capable of putting over 2,200 pounds in low Earth orbit or 1,000 pounds into sun-synchronous orbit for under $11 million making it the second least expensive payload delivery cost per weight delivery system. The least expensive is the Falcon 9 discussed below coming in at around half the price per kilogram of the Falcon 1!

* = unproven: never been successfully recovered, heat shielding problems still need to be worked out
The Falcon 1 test program was not surprisingly marred -- it is not easy to build a reliable rocket capable of reaching orbit -- by several failures. The first flight on March 24, 2006 lasted only 25 seconds before the main engine shutoff due to on-board fire. An investigation reveal the wrong type of washer was used to mount the fuel line that sheared from the vibrations of liftoff immediately allowing a fuel line to rupture on the first stage leading to fire.
The second launch took place a year later due to the delay the investigation into the failure/fire of the first test launch. The first stage functions flawlessly, but the second stage prematurely shutdown at seven and a half minutes into the flight with the payload falling back to Earth. The shutdown was caused by a spin imparted into the second stage after the second stage engine nozzle was smacked by the first stage (inter stage) fairing --- in between the first and second stage that the second stage sits on top of. This resulted in an increasing roll (spin) of the second stage that pushes the fuel towards the outside of the tank so its fuel eventually becomes unavailable for the engine.

The third launch a year and a half later after a redesigned fairing separation system and interior fuel baffles was another failure as the momentum (from the new Merlin 1C engine increases residual pressures) for the first stage leads it to smack back into the second stage during separation due to a change in thrust delay due to a new modified engine being used.

During each one of these launches there are many successes and they learn and adapt from each mishap.

On September 28, 2008, the fourth launch is the charm, with the second stage shutting down on schedule nine and a half minutes after launch parking the "package" into a 10 year orbit. They also successfully performed an engine relight in orbit to adjust the orbit. This makes the Falcon 1 the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the Earth.
The fifth flight was also successful delivering their first major commercial payload, the RazakSAT satellite, into its intended orbit. The Falcon 1 has been retired and replaced by an enhanced version, the Falcon 1e that should debut this year for commercial launches.

Falcon 9

Elon Musk's dream. A rocket capable of lifting significant payloads in to orbit and leaving orbit. Capable of carrying manned space craft to wherever you want to go. And he is making it happen.

The Falcon 9 is essentially a two stage rocket that uses nine of the same first stage Falcon 1 engines (Merlin 1C) on its first stage. The first stage is also designed to be recovered* and reused. So eventually will be the second stage be reusable*, but that will require a full heat shield (maybe a ballute?) and an attitude control reentry system.

The second stage is simply a shorter version if the first stage with a single Merlin 1C (vacuum variant) engine whihc saves money on tooling. The Falcon 9 is capable of lifting 23,000 pounds into low Earth orbit or 10,000 pounds into geostationary transfer orbit.

Unlike the Falcon 1 program there have been two Falcon 9 launches and both have been stunningly successful! The first Falcon 9 launch occurred June 4, 2010. The second launch occurred just before Christmas and included the Dragon space capsule which successfully orbited the Earth twice and then re-entered with the capsule splashing down within a mile of its target and being successfully recovered, making SpaceX the first private company to successfully orbit and recover a spacecraft!

As a result NASA has now contracted with SpaceX to resupply the International Space Station through 2017 using the Dragon unmanned cargo supply ship. Wanna place bets on the manned version delivering astronauts soon too?

Falcon Heavy

A 28 engine 2 stage variant of the Falcon 9 capable of lifting payload to low earth orbit of 117,000 pounds, or 42,000 pounds into geostationary transfer orbit, or 35,000 pounds into trans-lunar trajectory or 30,000 pounds into Mars trajectory. Sniffing the dream yet?

The Falcon Heavy is essentially a Falcon 9 with two more Falcon 9 first stages strapped on. It is scheduled for its first demo flight next year. I see no reason why three, four, five or even six first stages can't be added to a Falcon 9 under this program's modular design and the Falcon 9's first stage circular dimension for ever greater lift capability.

SpaceX plans its capacity to eventually launch 10 Falcon Heavy and 10 Falcon 9 annually, and it is looking to easily have the customers.


While Virgin Galactic's private SpaceShipTwo will hopefully have a profound inspirational effect on the wealthy and later on as cost's drop 'the well-to-do' that take a trip in it, the SpaceX's Falcon 9 variants combined with Bigelow Aerospace's modular space habitats and extra-planetary shelters IS an extraordinarily rich private space program. Now we need someone to figure out how to make a buck in space (besides Virgin Galactic) which ultimately will be why we NEED to go to space and stay in space. Entrepreneurs? [Robert Bigelow hints at mining the moon for tritium for profit.]