Will Rocket News Today

Marvel Studios’ new trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 shows Star-Lord, Gamora, and Nebula in a weird love triangle; Drax and Groot kicking ass; and the High Evolutionary creating Rocket.

Theyre both really typical test pilots. ive talked to them both many times. they are both so cool and calm and collected. you wonder if they ever -- if their pulse ever elevates because they are so on top of every detail here. but its going to be a slow climb out of the new mexico desert to then get to 50,000 feet to do the release, and then firing the rocket and kicking into 3 1/2 gs, 2300 miles per hour as they go at mach iii up towards the edge of space which as weve said is in excess of 50,0...

Semi-nasty comments from the blue origin team saying, we have bigger windows. we go higher. so maybe branson isnt really going into space. okay, fine. but if youre up there and youve got a fantastic view of the earth and youve got 17 windows to look out of, most people would think thats a pretty great experience. in no way to diminish the experience from blue origin which as you know is a rocket. you have maybe a bigger space capsule. nonetheless, thats the back and forth going on here. and feat...

Earth. ill be interested to see what number they hit. 56 or 50 miles above earth. and nasa and the pentagon recognizes 50 miles into space. >> what an extraordinary moment. we know next week jeff bezos and blue origin get their turn in a different ship, a rocket. we know elon musk and spacex are working on their own orbital spacecraft. what does this moment? what does this day? what does next week put together? what do they mean for the possibilities in the future? >> i think this historic momen...

See, just to make it clear to anybody who hasnt watched that already, hanging below "eve" is "unity." latched beneath the wing. at 50,000 feet, youll hear the pilots going through a series of checklists, l 10, l 9, l 8, l stands for launch. literally, theyre going through the checklist. when they get to the bottom youll see them release unity. unity doesnt drop very far. eve pulls away, then unity lights the rocket, the rocket that will carry them up towards 50,000 feet at mach iii. we mentioned...

Here. one reason they take off in the early morning as peter is a better expert than i am. you want to avoid taking off in the extreme afternoon heat 100 degree temperatures here in new mexico. >> peter, tell us, again, we are talking about 45 or 50,000 feet above earth when the ship itself "vss unity" will detach. this then propels itself -- it will then as soon as the mothership falls away, as you said, the rocket will ignite shortly thereafter? immediately thereafter? >> yeah. a time to get t...

Branson is no stranger to cameras. hes always loved cameras and his stunts over the years to kick off his brands, whether its virgin cola, that didnt go so well, or the virgin atlantic brand or the record stores or whatever, hes known how to grab the spotlight and he loves the spotlight. theres no doubt about it so today hes in the spotlight and this company, which he built from the ground up, there was no virgin galactic four. he started at a stand alone potion 17 years ago and now theyre on th...

Branson is making the trip this week. a week and a half ahead of the worlds richest man jeff bezos, who plans to do the same on his own blue origin ship. nbc tom costello is there when the journey began a short time ago. hes at space port america in new mexico. an extraordinary day. what are we seeing now? >> reporter: at very moment were at the point where we expect that "unity" will detach and drop from the mothership. the mothership eve. we expect at any moment now, roughly 36,000 to 45,000 f...

They were weightless for awhile. youre floating there and your system is floating, as well. your sense of motion is a little bit distorted. then you come down and the g-forces build up again. thats what happened to them. i think all of that is overriden by pure joy and exsill ration of what they went through. they had jobs to do. they needed to do that. i think the excitement and the happiness theyre experiencing now is the overriding feeling. >> and tom costello, it looks like a clean, safe tou...

Rocket up, really literally to 50 miles above space. tell me a little bit about what is probably happening now >>well, i think, you know, the release is probably already happened and theres a little bit of time that floats and then that engine gets ignited with that dual fuel and then theyre going to fill the gs. when ive launched or the space shuttle latches, i felt 3g going through my chest. it was hard to breathe at times or move your head around. theyll get 3 plus gs as their going up. i thi...