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Scientific sub-orbital flights began in the 1920s when Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid fueled rockets, however they did not reach space altitude. In the late 1940s, captured German V-2 ballistic missiles were converted into V-2 sounding rockets which helped lay the foundation for modern sounding rockets. [ 15 ]
By March 2011, Virgin Galactic had submitted SpaceShipTwo as a reusable launch vehicle for carrying research payloads in response to NASA's suborbital reusable launch vehicle (sRLV) solicitation, which was a part of the agency's Flight Opportunities Program. Virgin projected research flights might reach a peak altitude of 110 km (68 mi).
The Lynx was intended to carry one pilot, a ticketed passenger, and/or a payload above 100 kilometres (62 mi) altitude. The concept has been under development since 2003 when a two-person suborbital spaceplane was announced under the name Xerus. In January 2016, XCOR changed plans for the first flight of the Lynx spaceplane.
An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) is a spaceflight in which a spacecraft is placed on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least one orbit. To do this around the Earth , it must be on a free trajectory which has an altitude at perigee (altitude at closest approach) around 80 kilometers (50 mi); this is the boundary of ...
Perigee Aerospace hopes to build the capacity to launch up to 40 Blue Whale 1 rockets per year at a price of less than US$3 million. The orbital maiden flight of Blue Whale 1 is expected to take place in late 2024, preceded by a suborbital test flight scheduled for May 2024. [8]
On July 31, 2018, UP Aerospace announced it had been awarded a 5-year IDIQ launch contract by NASA under Flight Opportunities Program. The contract calls for UP Aerospace to conduct suborbital rocket flights for NASA using its SpaceLoft XL rocket. This was the third contract of this type awarded to UP Aerospace by NASA.
Its first powered flight, flight 11P, was made on December 17, 2003, the 100th anniversary of the first powered flight. On April 1, 2004, Scaled Composites received the first license for suborbital rocket flights to be issued by the US Office of Commercial Space Transportation. This license permitted the company to conduct powered test flights ...
The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American crewed space booster.It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–1961; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American (and the second and third humans) in space.