SAN FRANCISCO – Spaceflight training startup Orbite has raised $4 million to expand its business, which combines astronaut training with luxury vacations. After raising $4 million in a Series A […]

The post Orbite to expand luxury space training with Series A funding appeared first on SpaceNews.

HELSINKI — Chinese launch startup Deep Blue Aerospace targets providing suborbital tourism flights starting in 2027. Deep Blue Aerospace is currently developing its Nebula-1 reusable orbital rocket and is preparing […]

The post China’s Deep Blue Aerospace reveals suborbital tourism plans appeared first on SpaceNews.

Update: This article was updated at 1:20 pm ET with information on commercial spaceflight waivers. MILAN – If commercial suborbital spaceflight companies wanted to purchase insurance to cover the risk […]

The post Insuring commercial suborbital flight passengers could be tricky, at least initially appeared first on SpaceNews.

Twenty years ago, SpaceShipOne appeared to open the door to a new spaceflight era. Today, that door is barely ajar.

The post Space tourism dreams live on appeared first on SpaceNews.

A short-term funding bill passed at the last minute includes a three-month extension of the “learning period” limiting regulations on commercial spaceflight participant safety.

The post Stopgap spending bill includes FAA learning period extension appeared first on SpaceNews.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has introduced legislation that would extend a restriction on the Federal Aviation Administration’s ability to regulate commercial human spaceflight safety by another eight years.

The post House Speaker introduces bill to extend commercial spaceflight regulatory learning period appeared first on SpaceNews.

A new report recommends that current restrictions on the FAA’s ability to regulate safety for people flying on commercial spacecraft be allowed to expire later this year.

The post Report recommends allowing “learning period” for commercial human spaceflight safety regulations to expire appeared first on SpaceNews.

A Japanese billionaire has selected an eclectic group of people who will accompany him on a SpaceX Starship flight around the moon, although it remains uncertain when that mission will take place.

The post Japanese billionaire selects crew for circumlunar Starship flight appeared first on SpaceNews.

Space Perspective, a company offering tourist flights into the stratosphere, is buying a ship it plans to use as an oceangoing launch platform for its balloons.

The post Space Perspective acquires ship for ocean-based balloon launch platform appeared first on SpaceNews.

Space Perspective has raised an additional $17 million to further development of its stratospheric passenger balloon system that simulates one aspect of spaceflight.

The post Space Perspective raises $17 million appeared first on SpaceNews.

Virgin Galactic executives said Feb. 22 that they remain on schedule to begin commercial human suborbital missions before the end of the year but acknowledged it will take several years for the company to become profitable.

The post Virgin Galactic on schedule to start commercial human suborbital flights this year appeared first on SpaceNews.

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian cosmonaut and two Japanese private astronauts returned to Earth late Dec. 19, wrapping up a banner year for commercial human spaceflight.

The post Soyuz returns from private astronaut mission to the ISS appeared first on SpaceNews.

The Federal Aviation Administration will stop awarding commercial astronaut wings at the end of this year, five months after it revised the criteria for receiving the wings.

The post FAA to end commercial astronaut wings program appeared first on SpaceNews.

A Soyuz spacecraft launched Dec. 8 carrying two Japanese private astronauts and a Roscosmos cosmonaut on the first flight in more than a decade for space tourism company Space Adventures.

The post Soyuz launches Japanese private astronauts to ISS appeared first on SpaceNews.

Space Adventures has dropped plans to fly space tourists on a high-altitude Crew Dragon flight but has not ruled out revisiting the mission concept in the future.

The post Space Adventures no longer planning Crew Dragon flight appeared first on SpaceNews.

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a cosmonaut and two spaceflight participants landed in Kazakhstan Oct. 17, nearly two days after that spacecraft caused the station to briefly lose attitude control.

The post Soyuz returns cosmonauts and film crew to Earth appeared first on SpaceNews.

As commercial human spaceflight enjoys a breakout 2021, it doesn't make sense for Congress to keep safety regulators handcuffed through 2023, argues the author of "Bringing Columbia Home."

The post Op-Ed | It’s Time to Rescind the Moratorium on Regulation of Commercial Spaceflight appeared first on SpaceNews.

Space Perspective, a company developing a stratospheric ballooning system intended to give people views like those from space, has raised $40 million to fund the company through the start of commercial operations.

The post Space Perspective raises $40 million for stratospheric ballooning system appeared first on SpaceNews.

World View, a company founded to carry people into the stratosphere to give them space-like views of the Earth, is reviving those plans, putting it into competition with two of its co-founders.

The post World View revives plans for stratospheric balloon passenger flights appeared first on SpaceNews.

The secretary-general of the United Nations lumped space tourism alongside corruption and loss of freedoms as part of a “malady of mistrust” facing the world, another sign of the backlash in some quarters to private human spaceflight.

The post UN secretary-general criticizes “billionaires joyriding to space” appeared first on SpaceNews.

SpaceX’s first fully commercial Crew Dragon mission is being closely watched by both NASA and other companies in the commercial human spaceflight sector, who see it as a pathfinder for future missions but not necessarily a model for them.

The post Commercial spaceflight industry sees Inspiration4 as a pathfinder but not a model appeared first on SpaceNews.

SpaceX is gearing up for its first purely commercial human spaceflight, but many details about the mission remain unclear.

The post Inspiration4 private crewed mission nears launch appeared first on SpaceNews.

More than space tourists, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson are leading the way to commercial and public utilization of space previously only imagined in science fiction.

The post Op-ed | Unlocking New Economic Frontiers in Space appeared first on SpaceNews.

There’s no such thing as a free launch — especially when it comes to suborbital joy rides.

The post Op-ed | Space tourism’s environmental price tag appeared first on SpaceNews.