Expert Voices

The Future of Private Spaceflight (Gallery)

Orion spacecraft conception

NASA / Sierra Nevada Corporation

Private spacecraft from Sierra Nevada, Virgin, SpaceX and others are pushing boundaries in spaceflight and edging into the domain once held exclusively by government-funded behemoths like Lockheed-Martin. You can learn about the future of the private space race in Peirs Bozny's exclusive Expert Voices essay

Shown here: An artist's impression of an Orion spacecraft mated to a European-built ATV service module.

Apollo on steroids

NASA / Sierra Nevada Corporation

Orion has been described as "Apollo on steroids." Time will tell if it can match, or better yet, exceed, Apollo's achievements.

Orion prepped for flight

Lockheed Martin

Engineers at the Lockheed Martin company prepare the first Orion for flight.

Virgin Galactic’s Enterprise rocket plane

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic’s Enterprise rocket plane is carried aloft by VMS Eve, prior to a rocket powered test.

Soyuz vehicles docked

NASA / Novosti

At least two Soyuz vehicles docked to the ISS serve as crew transport systems, doubling as emergency lifeboats in case of trouble.

First-generation XCOR Lynx vehicles

XCOR Aerospace

First-generation XCOR Lynx vehicles will not fly all the way into space, but the altitude difference will only be of concern to pedants.

SpaceShipOne on display

Smithsonian Institution

SpaceShipOne is now on display in the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Swiss spacecraft developments

Swiss Space Systems

Swiss engineers are developing unscrewed lifting-body spacecraft for air launch.

Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser

Sierra Nevada Corporation/NASA/Griffin Communications

Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft poses for a beauty shot at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California.

New Space Frontiers book cover

NASA, Zenith Press

"New Space Frontiers: Venturing into Earth Orbit and Beyond" (Zenith Press, 2014)

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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.