1. Commercial Human Space Systems Overview
Aerospace Engineering
© 2011 Project Lead The Way, Inc.

2. Overview Introduction History of Commercial Human Spaceflight
Suborbital Flight
Orbital Flight

3. Introduction Original manned spaceflight started in early 1960s
Government was the only organization going into space
Recent government budget changes and technological innovations provided an environment for private industry to enter space
Within last few years this has become a reality
Trend is advancing and evolving as a legitimate industry and method of transportation

4. History of Commercial Human Spaceflight
Call to action was initiated by Dr. Peter Diamondis through the formation of the X-Prize Foundation in 1999
X-Prize sparked development with $10M prize
Over 20 teams competed
Scaled Composites in Mojave, CA demonstrated successful flight test on June 21, 2004
Official record set and Ansari X-Prize awarded on October 4, 2004

5. Timeline
1961
1969
1982
1999
2004
2012 +
4/1961 to 1999
Prior manned space by governments only
First manned spaceflight
Man walks on moon
First space shuttle
1999 to 10/2004
Start of Commercial spaceflight development
Kickoff of Ansari X-Prize
Scaled team enters competition
6/ First commercial manned spaceflight
10/ SS1 wins X-Prize, formation of Virgin Galactic
2004 to beyond
Implementation of Commercial spaceflight
Engineering development of SS2 starts
7/ First mothership for Virgin Galactic delivered

6. Presentation Name
Course Name
Unit # – Lesson #.# – Lesson Name
Suborbital Flight
Suborbital spaceflight achieves flights to altitudes qualifying as space but do not achieve or maintain orbit
Typically short-duration flight
Typically take-off and land at same location
Cannot reach ISS
ISS is the ancroynm for International Space Station.

7. SpaceShip One
First spacecraft to successfully achieve suborbital manned spaceflight as a private company (no government funding or support)

8. SpaceShip One Launch
Mothership “White Knight” lifts spacecraft to 50,000 feet – above 80%+ of atmosphere

10. Major Contributors Dr. Peter Diamondis – XPRIZE Foundation
Scaled Composites LLC
Burt Rutan – President and chief Engineer at Scaled Composites
Sir Richard Branson – Founder of Virgin Group
in UK, became first entrepreneur to take this
new technology to a commercial application
with launch of Virgin Galactic

11. Invention Evolution
Initial development was for glider flight test, with concurrent control and propulsion system certification
SpaceShip 1 configuration used for X-Prize designed to carry 3 passengers
Next version, SpaceShip 2, carries six passengers
Continuing to refine engines and other systems development to allow longer sub-orbital flights

12. Virgin Galactic Initial test flights in 2011-2012
First commercial flight planned for 2013
Operates from New Mexico

13. Shuttle Replacement
Retirement of shuttle program in 2011 created need for new spacecraft to support ISS

14. Commercial Human Orbital Flight Providers
Russians currently selling seats onboard Soyuz
$20M per person
10 days on ISS

15. SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft
SpaceX developing Dragon spacecraft

16. Boeing – Orion Spacecraft
Boeing repurposing Orion capsule development for commercial variant

17. Bigelow Aerospace – Genesis Hotel
Bigelow Aerospace developing Orbital Hotel facility

18. Summary
Next 20 years will bring major changes as commercial organizations work to access space
Major goal is to reduce cost for access to space while improving safety and reliability
Similar situation to what commercial airline industry faced in 1930s
Significant number of jobs in aerospace will be provided by these companies

19. References
Boeing (2011). Retrieved from Bigelow Aerospace, LLC (2011). Station development. Retrieved from Scaled Composites, LLC (2011). About us. Retrieved from SpaceX Exploration Technologies (2011). Company. Retrieved from Virgin Galactic (2011). Company. Retrieved from