Racing Into Space

Three . . . two . . . one . . . Liftoff! A new era for space travel began on July 11 with the launch of the Virgin Galactic space plane. Its crew included billionaire Richard Branson, who founded the company. The plane shot to the edge of space, about 53 miles above Earth’s surface.

Nine days later, billionaire Jeff Bezos rocketed even farther into space. His company’s spacecraft, Blue Origin, soared about 66 miles above Earth.

In the past, most space missions have been organized by government agencies, such as NASA. Only specially trained astronauts visited space. But the success of Branson’s and Bezos’s trips opened the door to commercial spaceflights. Now paying customers can visit space as tourists. And these flights will bring in big money.

Another billionaire, Elon Musk, plans to take this “space race” into new territory this fall. His company SpaceX plans to send a crew on a three-day mission that will orbit Earth.

Seats on the SpaceX mission may cost even more. (So far, the company has kept the price secret.) Billionaire Jared Isaacman bought all four seats. He donated two to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. One of the spots went to Hayley Arceneaux (AHR-seh-noh). She works at the hospital. She also used to be one of its patients.

As a kid, Arceneaux dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But when she was 10, she found out she had bone cancer. Part of her left leg was replaced by metal rods. She’s looking forward to becoming the first person with a prosthetic limb to travel to space.

“I never would have had this opportunity before because, until now, astronauts had to be physically perfect,” she says.

Arceneaux’s mission is called Inspiration4. She hopes it will inspire more people to explore space.

“We’re paving a way to space for people who are not classically trained astronauts or who never would have been able to experience space before,” she says.