Space flight triumphs of 2021

Private companies such as Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX made substantial inroads into the efficiency and reliability of space flight this year.

Among the achievements were the first civilian crew to travel to space, a record-breaking ninth flight for SpaceX’s Falcon9 rocket booster, and successfully launching the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart) spacecraft.

However, arguably the most important launch of the year happened on Christmas Day when NASA, together with the European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, and Arianespace, launched the James Webb Space Telescope into orbit.

Twenty-five years in the making, the telescope promises to give astronomers and cosmologists a view of the very first stars that formed after the Big Bang.

Some of the greatest achievements in space flight made during 2021 are summarised below.

James Webb Space Telescope launched

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched at 14:20 Christmas Day on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America.

The telescope is on its way to a position about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth called L2 — the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2.

L2 is a point in space where Webb’s orbit will be locked to Earth’s, keeping the planet between the telescope and the sun.

“The Webb observatory has 50 major deployments … and 178 release mechanisms to deploy those 50 parts,” mission systems engineer Mike Menzel explained.

“Every single one of them must work. Unfolding Webb is hands-down the most complicated spacecraft activity we’ve ever done.”

SpaceX’s Falcon9 makes a record-breaking trip

SpaceX successfully added 60 new satellites to its Starlink constellation on Sunday, 14 November 2021.

The rocket booster used on the mission flew for a record ninth time, landing safely on its “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, SpaceX said.

The booster took to the skies for the first time in March 2019, sending an unmanned spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a demonstration mission.

Theoretically, SpaceX engineered the Falcon 9 rocket to fly up to ten times with little to no maintenance in between. The company is now carefully tracking the wear and tear on its boosters as they reach the milestone.

Richard Branson goes to space

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson launched into space aboard a spacecraft developed by his own company, Virgin Galactic.

The VSS Unity ignited its rocket motor after separating from its carrier aircraft at approximately 45,000 feet (13,700 meters).

Virgin Galactic plans to begin working down its backlog of around 600 confirmed customers in early 2022.

The company said it would resume ticket sales after the summer’s test flights, with executives signalling that fares will be higher than the introductory price of $250,000 a seat.

Jeff Bezos goes to space

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and three others landed safely after Blue Origin’s first flight to space with passengers aboard.

The crew experienced a few moments of weightlessness as the spaceship flew past the Karman line at an altitude of approximately 100km above the Earth, after which it parachuted back.

Bezos’ fellow passengers included his brother Mark, former astronaut trainee Wally Funk (82), and the son of a Dutch financier, Oliver Daemen (18).

The trip made Funk the oldest person to travel to space (the record for the oldest person to go to space would be taken by William Shatner soon after that), while Daemen was the youngest.

Before landing, Bezos said the experience had been the “best day ever” on a live stream of the flight.

SpaceX sends first civilian crew to space

SpaceX launched four civilians on a three-day orbital excursion in September 2021.

This marked the first instance of civilians travelling into space. The flight, dubbed Inspiration4, took off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and reached an orbiting height of 585km.

The crew consisted of technology billionaire Jared Isaacman and three other US citizens without specialised astronaut training.

“I really do see this as a renaissance in human space transportation,” Phil McAlister, director of NASA’s commercial spaceflight division, said before the launch.

Nasa and SpaceX’s plan to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart) spacecraft launched on Tuesday, 23 November.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with the Dart spacecraft onboard.

“Nasa will intentionally crash the Dart spacecraft into an asteroid to see if that is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future,” SpaceX said.

The test is the first instance of humans trying to redirect an asteroid. Nasa will use Dart to demonstrate a planetary defence system — known as kinetic impact — where the spacecraft will slam into an asteroid to alter its trajectory.

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