SpaceShipTwo — Suborbital Research
Suborbital flight for research payloads and astronauts. Provides 4-6 minutes of microgravity.
View detailsSuborbital Orbit Launch Services
Browse 10 launch windows targeting Suborbital orbit. Compare rideshare slots, providers, and book your CubeSat deployment.
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Suborbital flights do not achieve orbital velocity, instead following a ballistic arc that returns the payload to Earth within minutes to hours. At apogees ranging from 100 km (Kármán line) to several hundred kilometers, suborbital flights provide microgravity exposure, upper atmosphere measurements, and technology demonstration opportunities at dramatically lower cost than orbital missions.
Commercial suborbital providers include Blue Origin New Shepard (capsule with 6-minute microgravity window), Virgin Galactic (horizontal-launch spaceplane), Rocket Lab HASTE (hypersonic test), and UP Aerospace Spaceloft XL (small payload rocket). Research institutions and universities use suborbital flights for protein crystal growth, fluid dynamics experiments, and instrument calibration before committing to orbital missions.
Suborbital rideshare pricing starts significantly lower than orbital launches, with 1U CubeSat-equivalent payloads often bookable for a fraction of orbital rates. KOSMOLAB SPACE lists available suborbital launch opportunities, comparing payload requirements, environmental conditions (vibration, acceleration, thermal), and available micro-g windows.
