Commercial Astronauts (eBook)

The beginning of the 2020's witnessed dozens of commercial astronauts fly to space on a variety of vehicles. These spacecraft included SpaceX's Crew Dragon, which supported the Inspiration4 and Axiom Space missions, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which supported several suborbital science flights, and Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft, which not only flew celebrities but also its fair share of commercial astronauts. 

The story of this new breed of spacefarer has only just begun. As evidenced by these missions, commercial spaceflight has grown beyond passengers simply traveling to space just for the ride. With orbital flights involving commercial astronauts staying in space for several days and weeks, companies such as Sierra Space, Axiom Space and Blue Origin are preparing for the next steps in commercial space travel which include the construction of orbiting habitats. 

But how will the opportunities for commercial astronauts develop, how will they be trained, and will this new group of astronauts evolve? This book describes how the commercial spaceflight industry is evolving, how it will continue to evolve as barriers to entry are reduced, competition grows, and costs are lowered, and how, because of these efforts, opportunities for commercial astronauts will increase.

Author Erik Seedhouse is a professor in Space Operations at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and has extensive practical and theoretical experience in many of the subjects in this book. In 2005, the author worked as an astronaut training consultant for Bigelow Aerospace and between 2008 and 2013 he served as Director of Canada's manned centrifuge and hypobaric operations. In 2009, he was one of the final 30 candidates in the Canadian Space Agency's Astronaut Recruitment Campaign. He holds a pilot license and in his spare time works as an astronaut instructor for Project PoSSUM, occasional film consultant to Hollywood, a professional speaker, triathlon coach and author. When not enjoying the sun and rocket launches on Florida's Space Coast with his wife, Alice, he divides his time between his second home in Sandefjord, Norway and Waikoloa.