by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Last year was a busy one for suborbital flights as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic conducted a combined four flights of their crewed suborbital vehicles. Despite hopes to the contrary, neither company flew paying tourists on their spaceships.

There were also 26 sounding rocket launches that carried scientific experiments and technology payloads above the atmosphere. The year saw:

• Japanese startup Interstellar Technologies conduct a successful launch of its Momo commercial sounding rocket;
• Texas-based Exos Aerospace continue to struggle with its reusable SARGE booster; and,
• the first suborbital launch ever achieved by college students.

Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo’s first flight above 50 miles on Dec. 13, 2018. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)

Part 1 of 2

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Throughout the Space Age, suborbital flight has been the least exciting segment of the launch market. Operating in the shadow of their much larger orbital cousins, sounding rockets carrying scientific instruments, microgravity experiments and technology demonstrations have flown to the fringes of space with little fanfare or media attention.

The suborbital sector has become much more dynamic in recent years now that billionaires have started spending money in it. Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic both made significant progress last year in testing New Shepard and SpaceShipTwo, respectively. Their achievements have raised the real possibility of suborbital space tourism flights in 2019. (I know. Promises, promises…. But, this year they might finally really do it. I think.)

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SL-9 launch (Credit: Spaceport America)

SPACEPORT AMERICA, NM (NASA PR) — Four NASA sponsored experiments were provided nearly four minutes of microgravity flight and testing after UP Aerospace’s SpaceLoft rocket SL-9 soared into suborbital space from Spaceport America outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico on Thursday.

While flying on suborbital launch vehicles in zero gravity, experimental technologies are briefly exposed to the space environment where they are expected to operate.

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SL-9 launch (Credit: Spaceport America)

SPACEPORT AMERICA, NM – New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) officials announced the launch today of the third NASA “Flight Opportunities Program” rocket from Spaceport America. The launch of SpaceLoft™ XL 9 (SL-9), which was designed to reach sub-orbital space, took place this morning from Spaceport America’s Launch Complex-1. Today’s liftoff marks the 21st launch at Spaceport America and the 13th flight conducted by UP Aerospace, the spaceport’s oldest launch customer. NASA successfully launched two similar research rockets from the spaceport last year.

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ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, USA (SatWest PR) – Satwest, one of the world’s first commercial suborbital research and development companies, is partnering with Bosque School, working with the school’s Physics II lab, in order to send the world’s first texts into space.

Satwest, in partnership with private spaceflight company UP Aerospace, will launch a rocket carrying Satwest’s communication payload on Nov. 12 at Spaceport America located near Truth or Consequences, NM. The students will be following the mission via the hashtag #TextsToSpace. Once a specific altitude is achieved, a series of thirty texts will be issued by the students, and tweeted live throughout the event. Once the craft has returned to earth, a recovery team will return the rocket to Spaceport America. Satwest will retrieve the payload, and confirm receipt of the Bosque texts.

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UPDATE 2:  The flight has been rescheduled for Nov. 12.  This post has been revised to include a sixth experiment by Satwest.

UPDATE:  Due to the government shutdown, this launch has been postponed.  A new date will be set after the government is up and running again.

The NASA Flight Opportunities Program next launch campaign will take place on Oct. 9 at Spaceport America in New Mexico. A SpaceLoft XL will test six technologies on a suborbital flight.

Descriptions of the payloads and the launch vehicle follow after the break.

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LAS CRUCES, NM (NMSGC PR) — The New Mexico Space Grant Consortium today successfully completed its fifth Student Launch Program launch event from Spaceport America near Las Cruces, N.M. More than 60 NASA Summer of Innovation students and teachers watched as four primary experiments were propelled into space aboard a SpaceLoft-5 rocket, provided by UP Aerospace. Additional university experiments and other items were also on the rocket, which reached an altitude of approximately 74 miles and experienced 17 Gs of force at a speed of Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound at approximately 3,800 mph).

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Successful launch of SL-7 from Spaceport America on June 21, 2013. (Credit: Spaceport America)

Spaceport America, NM (NMSA PR) – New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) officials announced the launch today of the first NASA “Flight Opportunities Program” rocket designed to reach sub-orbital space. The public launch of SpaceLoft™ XL 7 (S-7) took place this morning from Spaceport America’s Launch Complex-1. This launch marks the 11th flight since 2006 at Spaceport America conducted by UP Aerospace and the 19th overall flight from the spaceport.

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The NASA Flight Opportunities Program’s first fully manifested flight with UP Aerospace’s SpaceLoft system is coming up this Friday June 21. The flight manifest consists of 7 payloads selected through our program. Launch of the suborbital SpaceLoft XL rocket from Spaceport America in New Mexico is scheduled between 7-10 a.m. MST (9 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT/6 a.m. to 9 a.m. PDT). SL7 PAYLOAD MANIFEST No. Title/ Payload No. PI/Organization […]

LAS CRUCES, NM (NMSA PR) — The New Mexico Spaceport Authority is excited to host a NASA Flight Opportunities Program launch conducted by UP Aerospace, Inc., at the Spaceport America Vertical Launch Complex on Friday, June 21. This will be the first sub-orbital NASA Flight Opportunities Program launch, and the 19th overall launch from Spaceport America.

The sub-orbital sounding rocket launch is part of the NASA Flight Opportunities Program, which is designed to provide suborbital payload launch opportunities for NASA and other government agencies, as well as for educational institutions and the private sector.

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