A: On January 31, Blue Origin, the private space company owned by Jeff Bezos, announced that it was suspending its New Shepard suborbital space tourism programme for at least two years to focus on its “lunar capabilities” instead. Suborbital tourism is a form of space travel where paying passengers fly to the edge of space but don’t complete a full orbit around the earth. Unlike orbital missions, such as those going to the International Space Station, suborbital vehicles don’t achieve the immense speed necessary to stay in orbit. Also Read | What is suborbital tourism? Because the craft is not traveling fast enough to remain in orbit, gravity eventually pulls it back down through the atmosphere.

Source: The Hindu February 03, 2026 09:37 UTC