10 Spaceships to herald a new era in space tourism

Ever since Yuri Gagarin traveled to space, there were many people on the planet Earth who started dreaming of going there. This forced scientists to develop spaceships that will carry passengers and astronauts into orbit. There are many who are envisioning passengers' access possible to space by developing crewed spacecrafts. Below is a list of ten ships that will take you to the edge of space.

Space Ships

1. Orion Lite Spaceship

Orion Lite Spaceship

Orion Lite Spaceship has been designed by Bigelow Aerospace, a private company based in Nevada. It is a stripped down version of the future spaceship by NASA that will be set to touch sky in the year 2013. The spaceship will be used to carry passengers from low earth orbit. It can also be used to launch SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The main concern is to make passengers' access possible from low orbit earth. The company has received complete backup and the much needed help from a prime Orion contractor Lockheed Martin.

2. Mercury

Mercury

The main aim of Mercury project is to look for possibilities that will help explore abilities of a man to function in space. It is the first US spaceship and will help a manned spacecraft orbit around Earth. It will also help recover spacecraft and man safely. The Mercury program will make use of two launch vehicles. The Atlas will be used for four orbital flights and for the suborbital flights the Redstone will be used.

3. Galactic SpaceShip Two

Galactic SpaceShip Two

The Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two will make general public travel in space and will let weave starry memories. It was unveiled earlier last year and after a good three months, it touched the blue skies at California's Mojave Air and Space Port and remained airborne for a good three hours. Before it carries passengers, a lot of tests will be done to ensure complete safety of those traveling by it. Many enthusiasts have already deposited $200,000, which is the fare to travel in space on the Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two.

4. XCOR’s Lynx

XCOR’s Lynx

XCOR Aerospace, a company from Mojave, CA, will launch a suborbital spaceship named Lynx. The spaceship will carry two people at a time and will be of the size of a small private aircraft. It will touch a height of almost 200,000 feet above the surface of the earth. Lynx will make people experience micro weightlessness for 4 minutes before it brings the passengers back to Earth. But, a short trip on Lynx will definitely burn a hole in your pocket. It will cost $100,000 USD for a 30 minute trip.

5. Russian manned spacecraft

Russian manned spacecraft

Roskosmos, a Russian Space Agency, is all set to carry a capsule to moon on its new rocket. RKK Energia was given the research and development project, which was submitted in April last year. The spacecraft will depend on solid-propellant engines for landing with six cosmonauts on-board. A parachute has also been added that will act as an emergency landing system in case some issue crops up. The Russian spacecraft is expected to fly after year 2015.

6. Antimatter Spaceship

Antimatter Spaceship

Antimatter is known to be an airship just needs tens of milligrams as against tons of chemical fuel used to propel a spaceship. An antimatter-powered airship is being produced by NIAC or NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts that won’t produce any side effects like gamma rays. The all new design will use positrons that will produce gamma rays with 400 times less energy. The spaceship will be safe to launch and will take astronauts to Mars in as less as 45 days, while other mission spacecrafts take almost 180 days. It may become the first spaceship that will carry humans to Mars.

7. Soyuz

Soyuz

Soyuz is the longest serving manned spacecraft that exists around the globe. It was originally crafted to explore the moon in Sergei Korolev's OKB-1 design bureau. It has been used to deliver crews to the Mir space station and has a great emergency escape system. The spaceship is being modified further that will be used to carry people from earth to experience what it is like being in space.

8. Skylab

Skylab

Skylab, America’s first experimental space station has come up with programs that will solve a few objectives. The program will prove that humans can work as well as live in space and that too for long periods. This will also help humans understand solar astronomy better from space. NASA Skylab was launched into the orbit of the Earth in 1973 and was occupied by three-man crews.

9. Shenzhou

Shenzhou

Shenzhou is a Chinese manned spacecraft that has a heavy resemblance with the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Shenzhou will be exploited to come up with manned spacecraft methods like docking, rendezvous and extravehicular activity. Shenzhou will also serve as a ferry that will take people to space stations.

10. Nautilus-X

Nautilus-X

Nautilus-X can hold a crew of six, and will be used for deep-space and lunar missions. The tubular spacecraft will also serve as a reusable vehicle. This multi-mission space exploration vehicle is expected to get ready for space missions till 2020. It will be simple to build and will be perfect for specific mission to Mars and moon. Crafting Nautilus-X will take five years and will cost almost $3.7 billion.