rob rob reynolds reports on how we went from space travel to space tourism. in 1961, soviet cosmos. you're good gar, and blasted into outer space, and as his was stop, rocket blasted off guard shouted cheerfully. that means let's go. guard 108 minutes and space was the beginning of the space, age and age of space, heroes, gar, and was idolized at home and travel the world cheered everywhere by jubilant crowds, his american counterparts. allen shepherd, followed by john glenn were similarly lauded as courageous adventurers when later became a us senator and random successfully for president pasco is go for docking. houston is go for docking. it's up to you guys. the space race was a cold war era strategic competition between the soviet union and the us with military overtones. but it also had a genuine air of optimism and idealism, seen by many as the next great stage in the human saga, and perhaps a forest for global brotherhood around the world. kids dreamed of growing up to be space men and women, and left off of discovery. well, things sure have changed from symbols of national greatness and demonstrations of dueling ideology. based travel today is all about money and ego that russia actually started the rich space tourist trend, offering seats on a. so you spacecraft for half the fees, they feel i dream will become a reality. richard branson, never shy of the media. spotlight will swoop base ward aboard of virgin galactic spacecraft from a base in new mexico, followed by amazon founder jeff bezos, aboard blue origin. a week later, i want to go on this flight because it's the thing i want to do all my life. what's really significant about the mission, the 3rd space billionaire ilan mosque says he's interested in taking one of his space, ex rockets to the moon one day. perfect. and after that maybe mar meters away, musk and base. those are duelling for contracts to supply the international space station and masses, lunar lander rants, and wants to create a space tourism industry for well healed travelers willing to pay several $100000.00 for a quick jaunt. there is big money to be made at one lab, but somehow it all seems a little less noble than in the early days when the apollo astronauts left behind on the moon, a plaque reading. we came in peace for all mankind. the new space tie coons may not have the right stuff, but they've got all the bucks, rob reynolds al jazeera. while i speak to sarah web about this, she's an astronomer at swinburne university of technology in australia, and she's joining us from melbourne. thank you very much. for being with us. so how exciting is this space flight launch today in the wider history of space exploration is the high justified i think so, because we were starting to see that not only do we have dedicated space agencies, being able to send people to that and then do some over experimentation, but the idea that we now have a commercial, like a very viable commercial space industry. i think it's very exciting. so what, what is the experience going to be like exactly what is richard brands i'm going to see for from the window. i mean, because it's a bit of controversy of whether this is actually in space or out of space. right. definitely the controversy lives between money plummeted up. he's going to be stories are high out that they will get a beautiful view, all of the blue marble and then o

we come back down safely. 62 high house were talking to rob reynolds correspondent, rob i might have to interrupt you because clearly we want to get the money shot. if there's a sun bite coming live from mister bay's off or any of his companions inside the caps, you will take it, of course, but they're processing, they're working out what they've achieved. they're just living in the moment and enjoying the moment. it must be an incredible buzz for these people. i can only imagine, peter. this is the combination for, for jeff bezos, of many years of ambition, and many billions of dollars invested. you could see him of sure while ago giving a thumbs up through the window of the, the new shepherd capsule. and heard him several minutes before that saying, best day ever. so for somebody who's, you know, made 200000000000 dollars and change through his life to have this be the best day ever it's, it's probably been pretty thrilling for him. and for the other 3, i would imagine his brother, $82.00, you're 53 year old jeff, mark bay. those got a wonder what mark base those is going to what,

i'm sure rob many thanks rob reynolds talking to us live here on the news still to come on this program for you . the weights of his people on his shoulders, we will hear from the palestinian waitlist to compete at the olympic gapers. ah ah ah, ah. ah ah ah ah, we're talking dresses, but don't tell anyone he saw with the sports news now only von to lympics. thank you so much, peter. we are now just 3 days away from the opening ceremony for the tokyo olympics . the leading health experts are warning that the bubble at the olympic village has already been broken. 71 people accredited to the gangs of now it's a positive for corona virus. that number includes athlete staying in the olympic village and others preparing across japan. it also includes team officials, i o, c members and volunteers. public health experts kenji chablis, are warns the movement of people associated with the games could further the spread of the delta variance. there's no way for them to attract the movement of the people. the wind. yeah, and there is no core on team for an acid and janice for extended 14 days. so h

be heard describing the fripp as the best day ever live now, to rob reynold sous, near that lone site for us in van horn, texas. sir rob, just walk us through the events of the past 60 minutes. well, peter, it was a pretty exciting time for people watching all around the world. and for us here to be able to see the con trail of the rockets shooting straight up into the air was really an amazing sight. the blast off came after a couple of delays, but when it did come, it was without incident. the rocket by jeff has been developed by jeff bezos. his blue origin corporation, with the shepherd to cap soule on top, reached an altitude of about 100 kilometers above the earth. the speed of the ascent was 3 times the speed of sound, mach 3. so they were really feeling the g forces, i'm sure, as they were strapped in in that capsule then the booster rocket detached, floated back to earth, where it landed intact. and after several minutes of waitlist this a lot of shouting and gleeful noise from the 4 passengers in the fully automated capsule. it too began its descent and deployed its parachutes, landed softly and successfully i

let's go to rob reynolds, who live at the virgin galactic spaceport in sierra county, new mexico and rob. we've had that that, that high point, i guess you like everything seems to be going off without a hitch. flawlessly, folly, at the moment everything seems to be as you say, going off absolutely perfectly. the separation went, the went flawlessly, then the, the engine burn, bringing the unity spacecraft up near to space, the 88 kilometers about the surface of the earth. that went perfectly well. just about 30 seconds ago, we heard that double sonic boom. that the announcer on the virgin galactic live stream mentions which we carried on our air and we heard it off to the, to the east in that direction. so it is now as you probably just listen to richard branson normally answer this and say well you got to say and just like that, he's gone back. right. so we'll have to catch a little live broadcasting from several but all space is how i guess i can sympathize with the poor mr. branson because i've had my share of audio problems as well over the over time. but they're having a little tro

beautiful stay for everybody. crating such suitable beautiful rob reynolds as live at the virgin galactic spaceport in sierra county, new mexico and rob this bailey went off without a hitch. kim, it really did everything went flawlessly from the take off of the the mother ship eve with unity strapped to its fuselage to the separation, which is always a very tricky part in this kind of an operation. technically tricky. and then the firing of the rockets on the unity space plane that brought richard branson and company up to the edge of space earning richard branson, his astronaut swings, and then the plane came gliding in for a perfect landing. it is now being towed over through another area. so presumably all of the passengers are now off and rich with richard branson, describing this as you just heard kim as the experience of a lifetime. that's really say something for a person who built a $1000000000.00 business empire. i had so many different sorts of business enterprises of flu balloons, across the atlantic in the pacific. set speed records for various types of watercraft and things of that nature. a real daredevil. so for this to

rob reynolds al jazeera in sierra county, new mexico. ah . what's going on with lisa hill, rob linda hall? one of our top stories damian court has sentence to former officials to 15 years in prison, plotting a coup against the monarchy. they are accused of pushing form to the throne. prince hands are as no turnitin to king abdullah. a woman been this bit and would you remember? well regarding the 1st criminal bass in our dela, the court has sentenced him to temporary imprisonment for a period of 15 years for the 1st charge. and 15 years for the 2nd charge. only one of these 2 rules applies to him, which is temporary work for 15 years, starting from the date of his arrest in april with, with regard to the 2nd criminal sharif hassan been said, the court has sentenced him to temporary imprisonment for a period of 15 years for the 1st charge, and 15 years for the 2nd charge, he shall be subject to any one penalty which is 15 years of temporary imprisonment . cuba has seen its biggest anti government protests in decades. thousands march to as an economic crisis grips the nation. gov

let's go live to rob reynolds, who's at the virgin galactic space. sport in sierra county, new mexico. excitement is building up. rob, how is this all going to go down? the rocket? i understand is going to be carried 1st by a much bigger plane. yeah, that's right. excitement is building here the crew and the passengers including richard branson, are near the plane now that will take them into space. first the, the space plane unity which looks something like a very futuristic private jet will be attached to the belly of a custom made aircraft called eve. eve will take it up above the earth and at the certain point of the space plane will detach. and then will start its own rockets and go into that sub orbital area that you mentioned. there are dangers involved here. this is not just the walk in the park by any means . in fact, back in the 2014, there was a fatal accident and the disastrous mid air destruction of a prototype of this same aircraft that killed one of the pilots virgin galactic and injured another. that was all laid down eventually in the investigation to human error. but it underlines the fact that thi

so what we will talk to after it, i'm sure rob reynolds in texas today launch site of jeff isaac is blue origin. well, space travel was rob was pointing out until recently the sole domain of wealthy nations. but private billionaires reaching for the styles could pave the way the strict rules, outer space treaties, 1st adopted by the un on the late sixty's set out principles for exploration by nation states. as broad agreements call for space travel to be pursued in the common collective good and for countries to bear responsibility for their activities. now though, as we've heard, we have these 3000000000 s competing stakes in space, mosques, space, ex richard branson's, virgin galactic, as well as blue origin, which we saw today from jeff bezos and exports calling for new clear rules to be drafted. to ensure space is protected from environmental hom and commercial exploitation. let's talk more about this with john logston, who is the professor emeritus at george washington university space policy institute. he's with us from bethesda, maryland today. good to see you, john. on that point of who rules space or what rules s

missions inspiration for will take 4 days to return to rob reynolds, his life for us at the virgin galactic space. fort in sierra county, new mexico. rob, what has the atmosphere been like bid today? well, i think there's a lot of, you know, figured al, biting, hoping that everything is going to work out well. there were some problems with the live stream the, the internet stream that virgina galactic wanted to put up there. they had some issues there that may have disappointed some people who are watching from home. but so far as we know, at this moment everything is going well. last we heard the mother plain eve that is carrying the unity space plane had reached about 40000 kilometers, 40000 feet. that's a 4040, but yeah, 40000 kilometers. so it will be shortly in the zone where it can break free from eve and go and try to reach that near space area that, that you described. volley is interesting is one of your guests was saying that although these are new and these are very expensive, multi 1000000000 dollar ventures, but a lot of technology involved, there's nothing particularly new involved in the actual business of getting up int

let's go live to rob reynolds, who's the virgin galactic space, 14 sierra county new mexico. so a lot of excitement, rob, how is this all going to go down? when's take off expected? well, if everything goes according to plan fully in about 90 minutes, the unity space crap will be taking off. it is a bright and sunny morning here in new mexico. it looks like a perfect day for a job in the space. and the crew, along with richard branson, consists of 2 pilots and 3 executives from his company, virgin atlantic. this will be the 1st time that the unity space plane has had that full complement of 6 people on board. now i want to just tell our audience, this is you're not going to see a rocket going straight up into the atmosphere. branson, it has a space plane. unity looks a little bit like a really futuristic version of a private jet. so a specially designed aircraft called eve, will take the unity up to about 15000 meters above the earth. at that point, unity will break free from eve, and it will engage its own engines and fly up to the sub orbital area. just shy of space. as you mention, the internationall

take 4 days to return back to live, to rob reynolds in new mexico forest, where the big launch is happening very shortly at 1430, which is now what's going to happen, rob? well, this is the culmination of 20 years of richard branson's. the dream of starting a space company developing all of the technology to accomplish visits, to at least near space or near near space. and it hasn't been a completely easy road. it costs a lot of money. there have been some setbacks, including a fatal mishap when the space plane disintegrated in mid air in 2014. that was on a test flight and that was attributed to pilot error. but the all system seem to be go today. branson ever the showman tweeted out a slickly produced video of himself, riding bike up to the spaceport area around here and then reading his fellow passengers. 3 mission specialist employees, the virgin galactic. they've now got their space suits. they're getting gathering near the plane that will take the spacecraft called unity high enough for unity to break free of the plane and then begin firing. it's rocket engine to take it up about 80 kilometers above the earth . do we know rod the plane will exper