2021: A milestone year for space travel

All of us have had the fantasy of flying out in space and live our dream of space travel. The progress made in the field of science and technology of the present era are making it real now. The year 2021 witnessed some great achievements in the aerospace missions by several global players. However, there are two prominent names in the space travel industry – SpaceX and Blue Origin - making history with their impressive and majestic aerospace missions.

SpaceX’ incredible 2021 journey

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A global leader in space rocket missions, SpaceX has been riding high on its ambitions since its foundation in 2002. However, in the last 12 months massive projects initiated by the firm have come to fruition and taken it to its crowning point.

In April 2021, SpaceX launched Crew Dragon spacecraft holding NASA's SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. It was the second commercial crew rotation mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The third crew rotation mission with astronauts on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 was launched on 10 November. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, this was also the fourth flight with astronauts, including the Demo-2 test flight. 

Most recently, Falcon 9 first stage booster launched two BlackSky spacecraft and 48 Starlink satellites to orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on 2 December.

In May 2021, SpaceX launched and successfully landed its next-generation rocket Starship. The rocket has been built for carrying people and cargo to the Moon and Mars.

For the upcoming years, SpaceX founder Elon Musk is eyeing the unrivalled goal of taking humans to Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Also read: SpaceX makes history as all-civilian crew zooms into space

Blue Origin making swift advances in its aerospace missions

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Owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Blue Origin is a private spaceflight company based in Kent, Washington. Motivated by their commitment to build a way to space, Blue Origin has made some game-changing master strokes.

In July 2021, Blue Origin was successful in launching and completing New Shepard’s first human flight with four private citizens onboard - Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk. The second human spaceflight on board New Shepard was completed on October 13, 2021. Also, in August 2021, Blue Origin accomplished the 17th New Shepard mission to space and back.

Also read: Blue Origin spaceflight: All details about the crew and voyage

Bottom Line

The two companies have a exciting schedule of launches for the year ahead as well. It will be interesting and thrilling as well to see greater success in the aerospace travel in the coming times. Also, you never know if you get the chance to fly into space, pass the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space and officially become astronauts.