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Quote by Leroy Chiao

“The United States, Russia, and China are the only three countries in the world that can launch astronauts into space. Mostly in the U.S. you see some companies trying to launch private commercial people into space, but nobody's done it yet. The only private vehicle that's made it into space so far is Spaceship 1 in 2004, and that was an effort that was funded by one of the Microsoft founders, and he spent about $20 million to develop this spacecraft to do a sub-orbital flight. And it's not the same as going into orbit, but it was a huge first step.”

Author

Leroy Chiao

Leroy Chiao is an American engineer born on August 28, 1960. He is renowned for his exceptional contributions to the field of space exploration, serving as an astronaut for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and participating in multiple space missions. more

“If you increase the number of rockets you build and you buy, then it's the scale of the economy, the price is going to come down. It may not come down in order of magnitude, but if several commercial ventures start being successful and there becomes a bigger market for these rockets, the price will naturally come down a bit. That's why I think Excalibur Almaz, we're a little bit unique in that we don't look at our so-called competition with disdain, we want them to succeed and it needs to have more than one player. Even if we are successful, we couldn't handle the entire market ourselves.”

Thinking Economy Successful Player Succeed Unique Competition Being Successful Disdain

Author:Leroy Chiao

“One of the biggest concerns about going out beyond lower Earth orbit is the radiation. We find that exercise seems to counteract a lot of the negative effects of space flight, like bone loss and muscle atrophy and cardiovascular systems issues. We exercise two hours a day on the station, which is a huge hit out of your day. It's great for staying in shape, but you know, it cuts into the productivity of the crew and if you look at how expensive it is to get a crew into space, if we can keep them healthy and have them exercise, but spend less time doing it, we can get more done.”

Done Earth Hours Loss Cutting Exercise Healthy Concern Negative Bones Productivity Flight

Author:Leroy Chiao

“Exercise is very important, first of all if you think about it, especially in a long flight like a six month space flight and on the ISS. If you didn't exercise and used the analogy on earth, it would be like laying in bed. So, just imagine laying in bed for several months, and even just trying to get up and walk, you probably wouldn't be able to. But if you got up and you exercised two hours a day, you'd probably be okay, and that's the same in space.”

Thinking Trying Long Important Earth Hours Imagine Exercise Okay Flight

Author:Leroy Chiao

“We were doing something called telemedicine, where we were using the ultrasound. One interesting application of this ultrasound is the possibility that you could possibly use it to measure critical bone areas during a long space mission and track if you're losing bone in these areas. On Earth, when they check you for bone loss, you get in this big machine. It's the size of a room and it's got a platform with an x-ray that scans your whole body and in critical areas and it takes a while and it just wouldn't be practical to have a machine like that in space.”

Long Earth Loss Interesting Possibility Losing Track Bones Application

Author:Leroy Chiao