Published on November 15, 2019

Wednesday IAC 2019 GNF : Why We Suborbital Passengers Are Eager to Fly to Space

We are on the cusp of seeing frequent suborbital spaceflights carrying humans and payloads to space and back. Hundreds of people have already signed up to fly, but why do they want to go? What are their motives? What are their expectations? How will they prepare?

The Association of Space Explorers (ASE) will for the first time provide you the opportunity to hear directly from people who are preparing to fly soon. The session will open with presentations on the status of the human suborbital programs by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin.

A panel discussion will follow, composed of future suborbital astronauts providing their perspectives. Also included are a person who wants to use the suborbital flight for research experiments, as well as an astronaut trainer from Virgin Galactic. Finally, an orbital astronaut from ASE will be on the panel to provide a perspective on what to expect from someone who has been there. The panelists will have an interactive discussion about these questions both among themselves and with the audience.