I wish him every success with this endeavor. Space tourism is a guaranteed way to both finance and inspire future exploration.
“It won’t be much different than this,” Branson told reporters here at Wired Magazine’s NextFest forum. “It’s strange to think that in 12 months we’ll be unveiling the actual plane, and then test flights will commence right after that.”
Virgin Galactic’s spaceliners will be specially-outfitted SpaceShipTwo vehicles built by Mojave, California-based Scaled Composites and veteran aerospace designer Burt Rutan. The new spacecraft, designed specifically for space tourism, will be three times the size of Rutan’s SpaceShipOne, which won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for privately-developed piloted spacecraft capable of reaching suborbital space twice in two weeks.
Fastest way, too!
Alix:
Ditto
Here is a picture I took of Richard Branson a couple years back.
http://www.tcf.net/VIRGINATLANTIC/Richard_Branson5.jpg
If anyone can do commercial manned spaceflights sucessfully, it’ll be Branson and Rutan.
Branson often flies a hot air balloon at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta–wonder if he’ll be there this year.
Good for him…someone should be pushing the envelope for travel…
Isn’t this just a very expensive, and somewhat dangerous amusement ride? This has more potential to be a footnote, than the dawn of commercial spaceflight. A single fatal accident and this adventure is dead.
5,
I’ll bet there were pessimists on the shore the first time a person sat in a boat and went over the horizon. History isn’t made by pussies.
Richard,
Cool picture. Did you know Branson played an astronaut in the latest Superman movie?
I certainly hope #5 is right.
Why?
Smartalix I just believe money would be better spent on Science. Many have always believed manned space flight is a sideshow. Think of the probes and robotic landers that could be sent out with the Shuttles budget. It would be different if budgets were not so tight. Unmanned vehicles has returned much more than very expensive manned space flight.
Why not take some of the billions we’re pissing away in Iraq?
Those who belive manned missions are a sideshow probably also believe you can win a war without putting boots on the ground. Nothing advances without people.
Science is not a zero-sum game. Besides, PRIVATE space exploration takes no money away from NASA.
I just want to know if I can take my laptop.
J/P=?
#11 – Yes. Right now, nothing constitutes space tourism, so if this gets off the ground, then it will constitute space tourism. It isn’t as if the first space tourist is gonna fly through the rings of Saturn than grab dinner at a buffet on Mars.
#9 – The money is being spent on science. Getting man off the ground and into space is science. Commercializing space is science. Making a home up there is science… and as it happens, it is inspiring, which leads to more R&D and better ships and greater reach and more kids studying to be astronauts and engineers and even space waitresses (who will be very important to the Intergalactic House of Pancakes)
The public spends barely a fraction of what it should on NASA and space travel and super colliders and everything else. Beyond the inspiration point (which is, to me, good enough) and the commercialization point (once we show how to strip mine an asteroid, Republicans will be on board), there is this last point…
Getting off the Earth is essential to our survival as a species. We are going to die off if within 400 to 800 years, we have not colonized the solar system and made ourselves independant of the Earth. Succeeding at this nearly impossible task not only ensures our survival, it makes us immortal.
#13…Ohforthe loveof…..thanks…you just scared the crap out of me and I now hope this is a huge failure.
*************Getting off the Earth is essential to our survival as a species. We are going to die off if within 400 to 800 years, we have not colonized the solar system and made ourselves independant of the Earth. Succeeding at this nearly impossible task not only ensures our survival, it makes us immortal. *******************
That statement killed it for me. The last thing I want is for man to spread his virus-like qualities to the stars. It smacks of the…*.we screwed this planet all to hell, so lets find another to do it again* crowd.
Keep this virus contained for the well being of the Universe.
#14
Well… okay…
But even if it is a huge failure, its just a stepping stone to what will eventually be a huge success. We may or may not in thousands of years dominate the galaxy like characters from Star Trek… Probably not.
But we will conquer this Solar System. It’s just inevitable. It’s what we do. It’s all we do.
And I have a hard time understanding where all that misanthropy comes from.