Update : This clause as it originally appeared did not mention the National Aerospace Training and Research ( NASTAR ) centerfield , which is an be commercial-grade astronaut preparation center in the US .
A companionship in the UK has announcedthe world ’s firsta facility dedicated to the education of commercial-grade cosmonaut .
Blue Abyss is going to construct the quickness in Bedfordshire , taking over a Royal Air Force ( RAF ) base of operations that is set to close in 2020 . The $ 155 million ( £ 120 million ) construction is set to open its door in 2019 .
It ’s lead to be pretty telling . There ’s already a centrifuge at the site , which can submit cosmonaut to the acute gigabyte - force receive in a launch . Blue Abyss will also make the mankind ’s deep puddle at 50 metre ( 165 feet ) , in which astronauts can train . This will have unlike levels to perform underwater activities .
Astronauts take for space missions in pools , such as one in Russia ’s Star City in Moscow andNASA ’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratoryin Texas . Blue Abyss , though , pronounce this will be the first that is shoot for to prepare astronauts on commercial military mission . Plus , their pool is more than four time deeper than NASA ’s . So there .
“ The politics highlighted in the Queen ’s Speech how significant the space industry is for UK plc , ” Blue Abyss CEO John Vickers said in astatement . “ It need to make the UK the most attractive place in Europe for commercial-grade spacefaring to help increase the UK share of the world-wide space thriftiness to 10 % by 2030 . ”
The UK is already getting heavy involved in private spaceflight . It is one of the world ’s foremost satellite manufacturers , and is also planning to build aspaceportfor space plane in Newquay , Cornwall .
The allegiance to Blue Abyss , though , gives the UK a liberal encouragement in its commercial spaceflight endeavors . Although no better half were mention , there are a identification number of companies developing commercial spacecraft such as SpaceX , Boeing , and Blue Origin .
Various other companies have announced plans to buildprivate space hotelsin eye socket , and organizations like Virgin Galactic are skip to send out paying customer into space aboard their space planes in the future .
In its statement , Blue Abyss say it would have a all-encompassing orbit of experimental “ space preparation packages ” to “ set aside ordinary citizenry to undergo a full astronaut training programme ready for the wave of commercial spaceflight opportunities coming to marketplace . ”
It ’s not just astronauts that will do good from this quickness . Blue Abyss also wants to patronage bass ocean missions and aid pioneer research and exploitation in extreme environments .
So if you ’re an up - and - derive commercial-grade astronaut , you might just see yourself lead to the UK in the future to prepare for your military mission to blank space .
