All aboard on the spaceship excellent…
Yesterday Sir Richard Bransen unveiled WhiteKnightTwo, which is the launch platform for Virgin Galactic’s commercial space travel vehicle - SpaceShipTwo. In the first model, which won the X Prize back in 2004, the WhiteKnightOne launched SpaceShipOne into space twice.
This model shows Virgin Galactic’s progress on commercializing space travel, which is great considering that already 270 people have committed to paying (or have already paid) the $200,000 ticket. The ride will take six passengers 60 miles above earth and give them four minutes of weightlessness. Definitely a hefty price to escape gravity! Bransen also has plans to use the planes for suborbital flights to carry passengers around the world at ridiculous speeds, for example New York to Australia in a matter of a few hours.
My favorite was Bransen’s quote on his motives behind Virgin Galactic: “Seeing the planet from out there surrounded by the incredibly thin layer of atmosphere helps one to wake up to the fragility of the small proportion of the planet’s mass that we inhabit and to the importance of protecting the Earth.”
Love it. Check Wired for a full article.
Btw, when reading about Virgin Galactic, it is really helpful to listen to Spaceship Excellent’s Excellent Battlestations, great theme setting music!
Also, if you’re interested check out the Spaceport to be built in New Mexico, where Virgin Galactic will eventually be based, it will seriously blow your mind.
