About Those Space Joyrides…
The first suborbital tourists will spend up to $200,000 for a few precious minutes of weightlessness. How many minutes will they get?
- By David Warmflash
- AirSpaceMag.com, January 06, 2012
Virgin Galactic
(Page 2 of 3)
Neil Milburn, vice president of program management at Armadillo Aerospace, agrees that the transition should be comparable to parabolic flight. “As soon as there is a modest amount of G-force, one naturally ‘sinks’ back to the bottom.”
But two astronauts who are also physicians say the airplane and suborbital experiences will be markedly different. “G onset on the way back [from 100 km altitude] will be quite brisk, and the Gs will be in excess of six on some vehicles,” says Scott Parazynski, a veteran of five NASA spaceflights. “My guess is the last 30 to 45 seconds of the microgravity phase will have to be allocated to seat ingress.”
Dave Williams, a retired Canadian astronaut who flew twice on the shuttle, is even more cautious. “Depending upon their focus, and how congested the cabin is with floating passengers, I would guess it could take one to two minutes for a passenger to return to their couch and strap in.”
Both astronauts note that the time needed for seat ingress will vary according to each vehicle’s strapping procedures. In Armadillo’s case, reseating will be quick, lasting 10 to 20 seconds at most, according to Milburn, who adds that, “Audible and visual cues will signal that weightlessness is about to end, and of course, training will be provided prior to flight.”
While this still leaves plenty of time for somersaults, suborbital tourist companies may want to warn their passengers about the possibility of nausea and vomiting. Motion sickness is common on zero-G airplane flights, particularly after multiple parabolas. But Vanderploeg says the ride on SpaceShipTwo will be more like flying a single parabola, and nausea on the first parabola is extremely rare. He says decisions about using motion sickness medication on Virgin Galactic flights will be made “on a case-by-case basis with each passenger.”
Although symptoms of space motion sickness typically don’t appear during the first 30 seconds of weightlessness, astronauts often feel them in the first few minutes after reaching space, which makes it a concern for suborbital tourists. Anti-motion sickness drugs might not be enough. Astronauts typically try to minimize head movements and stay still during their first moments in space. Tourists may want to plan their moves carefully, or just accept that once-in-a-lifetime acrobatics are worth a little vomiting.
Even then, getting sick in a spacesuit has its own risks. XCOR and Armadillo passengers will wear suits that can pressurize if needed. Since vomiting is possible even without acrobatics, XCOR passengers will fly with their helmet visors open. Armadillo is working on a system that would close the visors automatically, while Virgin Galactic’s decision on requiring spacesuits awaits the results of future test flights.
However they address the risk, space tourism companies will make sure that none of their passengers vomit inside a closed helmet—which would quickly turn an unpleasant mess into a danger.
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Comments (3)
Rather more than four people have experienced this regime. I don't know what the total number is but you need to include the X15 and lifting body pilots, plus other rocket powered planes which experienced prolonged periods of microgravity.
Editors' reply: You're right, the X-15 pilots should have been included, since a couple of their flights topped the 100-km mark, and even those that flew a bit lower would still have produced a few minutes of weightlessness. Thanks for the reminder -- the error was introduced in editing.
Posted by Lee Fenney on January 8,2012 | 03:56 AM
As for the spaceship pilots, they will be highly trained and experienced. But they’ll be flying in a regime that only four people—Shepard, Grissom, and SpaceShipOne pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie—have experienced before.
What about the X-15 pilots? (Editors' reply: See answer to Lee Fenney's comment.)
Posted by TJ on January 8,2012 | 05:53 PM
It has been 7 years since that flight, and we are still waiting for space tourism.
Posted by John Bell on January 10,2012 | 10:58 AM