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Into Space European Astronaut Selection and Space Flight Participant Selection
Published in Robert Bor, Carina Eriksen, Todd P. Hubbard, Ray King, Pilot Selection, 2019
Anna Seemüller, Yvonne Pecena, Justin Mittelstädt, Peter Maschke
In 2004, the first manned commercial spacecraft, named SpaceShipOne, performed a successful suborbital flight above the altitude of 100 km, piloted by Mike Melvill. The first unmanned commercial spacecraft transporting cargo to and from the ISS was Dragon by SpaceX. However, until now there has not been a commercial spacecraft that has flown humans to the ISS. In 2011, NASA entered into Space Act Agreements with several American companies to promote the construction of the first manned commercial spacecraft for orbital flights (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2012, 2014a, 2014b). The first test flights of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft by Boeing and the Dragon spacecraft by SpaceX – both designed to carry up to seven people – were announced for 2018/2019 (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2018a), and NASA has introduced the first astronauts currently training for the manned commercial test flights (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2018b).
Space Medicine: The Bioethical and Legal Implications for Commercial Human Spaceflight
Published in Jai Galliott, Commercial Space Exploration, 2016
Moreover, different spaceflight plans incur diverse medical implications and risk factors for consideration. The impact of orbital spaceflight on human health is inherently more severe than that of suborbital spaceflight, for instance. Both the US and Russia have traditionally applied stringent medical and fitness evaluations and training for orbital flights for astronauts and space tourists. Case in point, in 2006, Russia forfeited the seat of space tourist and Japanese businessman, Daisuke Enomoto, to the ISS because of an ongoing minor health issue – a kidney stone (Enomoto v Space Adventures Ltd (2009) 624 F.Supp.2d 443; Langston 2011, p. 385). While this does not ordinarily endanger a human life on Earth, Russian doctors were unwilling to stake their interests and allow Enomoto to fly to the ISS. Enomoto’s seat was subsequently allocated to the next healthy individual in line. The Recommended Practices, likewise, advises commercial operators to screen for identifiable infectious and communicable diseases prior to multi-day orbital flights that could interfere with flight (FAA 2014, p. 46), but establishing such procedures is voluntary.
Launch Vehicles, Propulsion Systems, and Payloads
Published in Janet K. Tinoco, Chunyan Yu, Diane Howard, Ruth E. Stilwell, An Introduction to the Spaceport Industry, 2020
Janet K. Tinoco, Chunyan Yu, Diane Howard, Ruth E. Stilwell
The last chapter reviewed airspace considerations with respect to spaceport location and the viability of launching into and through airspace in order to reach outer space. This chapter delves into the underpinnings of the spaceport ground-based infrastructure, focusing on its three main drivers: the launch vehicle (LV), its propulsion system, and to a lesser extent, the payload. In order to begin the discussion of spaceport infrastructure requirements, one must conceptually understand what constitutes these system elements. The LV is by general definition “a rocket used to launch a satellite or spacecraft” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary 2019) and has a unique “capability … to insert an object in an orbital or suborbital trajectory” (Space Foundation 2017, p. 21). In strict definition by the United States (U.S.), a LV “means a vehicle built to operate in, or place a payload in, outer space or a suborbital rocket” (U.S. 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 401.5, Definitions). Note that the term, suborbital, refers to a trajectory that is less than one orbit of the Earth.The propulsion system is the power behind the launch of the vehicle and its payload into space and also maneuvering of the craft while in space, if applicable.Similar to aviation, the payload is that which is “carried by a vehicle that is necessary to the mission of the flight, but not necessary for its operation” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary 2019). The payload can therefore be either human (passengers, astronauts, pilot, crew, etc.) or nonhuman cargo (spacecraft, satellites, telescopes, supplies). The term payload originated during World War I with respect to the carried load and is often used to mean the amount of “paying” weight that can be lifted by transport (McCoy 2012).
Finding multiple local solutions to optimal control problems via saddle points and its application to the ascent trajectory of a winged rocket
Published in SICE Journal of Control, Measurement, and System Integration, 2022
Takahiro Fujikawa, Koichi Yonemoto
The left part of Figures 8–10 presents an ascent trajectory consisting of powered-ascent and coasting phases, and its enlarged view around the launch point. Two optimal trajectories are different from each other until around 50 s, during which angle of attack changes between its upper and lower bounds. It may be counter-intuitive that the second optimal trajectory is better than the saddle-point trajectory even though it flies towards the negative direction of the down range in the beginning of flight. In a previous design study of a winged suborbital vehicle by the authors [33], a path constraint to make the time derivative of flight path angle negative is intentionally imposed in order to obtain a seemingly suitable ascent trajectory. However, the present result reveals that such a trajectory design approach gives rise to an inferior ascent trajectory which is close to a saddle point rather than optima. The attainable altitude of the saddle-point trajectory is lower than that of the first optimal trajectory by 8.7 km, which is not huge but practically meaningful.