Bezos vs. Branson - Why The Battle Of The Space Billionaires Matters

Both Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic claim that they will make space more accessible for a broader audience. But will they really? And how could we make space travel even more affordable?

Here is the presentation by Tory Bruno I mention in the video:
First commercial flight in history:

#space #spacetourism #blueorigin

0:00 Battle of the billionaires
0:29 Space Tourism so far
3:02 SpaceShipTwo vs. New Shepard
5:07 Suborbital vs. orbital space tourism
6:59 Just a joyride for millionaires?
8:50 Space vs. air travel ticket prices
10:12 How to make space travel affordable

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[WasatchWind]

Good luck on the astronaut selection process! I hope ESA decides to go ahead with their concepts to develop indigenous launch capability.

[KOOLURATOOLGaming]

Before Branson mentioned the lottery I was scoffing at all the livestream adverts saying "space is for everyone" and stuff like that... Ye, for $250, 000

[samhsmith]

If there is one thing I want to do in life. It's leave earth. Earth is great, but I want to explore space more.

[j.h.pretorius]

First time I saw a video in my recommended, before it showed up in my subscription feed!

[martiantexan]

The way I heard it phrased was Branson went to space in his own craft, not just pay for a ride.

[guyfrompoland]

Media: BILIONAIRES RACE TO BE THE FIRST SPACE TOURISTS
Me: aren't they 10 years behind schedul and just trying to finish what they promised

[lewismassie]

VSS Unity reminds me very heavily of the interwar period of passenger flight. Only for the wealthy, a few seats in a metal tube.

Actually it's freaky just how similar they are

[spacexlife]

"a quarter of a million is what most people use to buy a house" in California, U.S.A, a 4 bed, 2 1/2 bathroom house currently is like 1.1 mil so....

[stekra]

Hey we need an Austrian esa Astronot so badly

[_d_ghosh_]

Sorry for the interruption, but Virgin Galactic's suborbital flight shouldn't be described as a mere "Hop" as you did. There is significant difference between a suborbital "hop" and a suborbital "flight"

[mbmurphy]

You could be the first person to play KSP in space!

[krashunburn]

Actually, Shadow, It doesn't matter. Why? Because only the very rich can afford to fly with Dick and Jeff and only in tiny groups that amount to nothing other than providing bragging rights. At the end of the day their rivalry will go down in history as the Battle of The Pointless. My money is with SpaceX.

[JustFamilyPlaytime]

Hey I've got a great idea. How about instead of pissing millions away on pointless tourist hops, how about these billionaires PAY SOME FUCKING TAXES!

[MitchCyan]

I wonder if Virgin Galactic are working on a space plane that can reach orbit.

[stekra]

And then ther is copenhagen suborbials that are doing the same thing just for 7000 thousend dollers a month.

[SumatraXSI]

I'd be willing to expend my life's savings only if I'd have born in the Moon and wanted to see the Earth by first time

[Splinter-gepf]

So basically we need to wait like 60 years to fly to space as tourists? Count me in I'm 16!

[cheese]

I think we all know who the real winner is.

[awilliams]

lol I could afford $10K. I can't afford $250K. My house is only $150K. Where is the cut off for me? I'm not really sure.

[filippo]

My biggest problem with the billionaire space race (most of all the two sub-orbital vehicles) is that they (especially Space Ship II) does not reach space.

The US boundary to space is 50 miles, which Virgin passes
The international (FAI) boundary is 100 km, which Blue Origin passes
The minimum height for a stable circular orbit is approx. 150 km.
Branson did not reach space if we use the boundary anywhere else than the US (which is funny because he's British). Bezos won't reach a height high enough to (with extra ∆v) be able to get in a stable orbit.
One can get into a stable orbit with a lower periapsis. The lowest stable orbit achievable is 130x180 km. Both those distances from the surface is higher than the sub-orbital "space" vehicles are able to reach