MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) - The sleek, bullet-shaped spacecraft is about the size of a large business jet - with wide windows and seats for six well-heeled passengers to take a thrill ride into space.
It's billed as the world's first commercial spaceship, designed to be carried aloft by an exotic jet before firing its rocket engine to climb beyond the Earth's atmosphere.
In a Hollywood-style rollout, Virgin Galactic on Monday took the cloak off SpaceShipTwo, which had been under secret development for two years in the Mojave Desert. The company plans to sell suborbital space rides for $200,000 a ticket, offering passengers 2 1/2-hour flights that include about five minutes of weightlessness.
Blaring music and a laser show heralded the rollout of SpaceShipTwo as it glided down a runway mated to its mothership and came to a stop before a throng of wannabe astronauts, dignitaries and VIPs who shivered in the desert cold for the splashy unveil.
"Isn't this the sexist spaceship ever?" said British billionaire and Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson, who partnered with famed aviation designer Burt Rutan on the venture.
The stubby-winged spaceship possesses a slender fuselage that narrows at the nose and tail. Once in space, its unique twin tail booms can pivot upward to increase drag and allow the spaceship to plunge like a shuttlecock back into the atmosphere.
SpaceShipTwo's debut marks the first public appearance of a commercial passenger spacecraft. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson were on hand to christen it "VSS Enterprise" by breaking champagne bottles on the craft's nose.
Branson hopes to begin passenger flights out of New Mexico sometime in 2011 after a series of rigorous safety tests. The entrepreneur said he, his family and Rutan will be the first to fly on SpaceShipTwo.
SpaceShipTwo is based on Rutan's design of a prototype called SpaceShipOne. In 2004, SpaceShipOne captured the $10 million Ansari X Prize by becoming the first privately manned craft to reach space.
Since that historic feat, engineers from Rutan's Scaled Composites LLC have been laboring in the Mojave Desert on a larger design suitable for commercial use.
Rutan, who has always stressed safety, said his goal is to make his private spaceflight venture safer than government space programs and on par with the early commercial airliners.
Some 300 clients have paid the $200,000 ticket or placed a deposit, according to Virgin Galactic.
The last time there was this level of hoopla in the high desert was a little more than a year ago when Branson and Rutan trotted out to great fanfare the twin-fuselage mothership, White Knight Two, that will carry SpaceShipTwo.
This latest affair was far more elaborate. Two tent complexes were custom-built for the occasion. Virgin Galactic also handed out free black windbreakers and hats with its logo. Servers passed around pastries and finger food before the unveiling and champagne afterward.
The one thing Virgin Galactic failed to choreograph was the weather. Branson and his deputies repeatedly apologized to guests for the howling winds that shook the see-through tent.
Despite the hype, hard work lies ahead before space journeys could become as routine as air travel.
Flight testing of White Knight Two has been ongoing for the past year. The first SpaceShipTwo test flights are expected to start next year, with full-fledged space launches to its maximum altitude in 2011.
SpaceShipTwo, built from lightweight composite materials and powered by a rocket engine, is similar to its prototype cousin with three exceptions. It's twice as large, measuring 60 feet long with a roomy cabin about the size of a Falcon 900 executive jet. It also has more windows including overhead portholes. And while SpaceShipOne was designed for three people, SpaceShipTwo can carry six passengers and two pilots.
"It's a big and beautiful vehicle," said X Prize founder Peter Diamandis, who has seen SpaceShipTwo during various stages of development.
Space travel has been limited so far to astronauts and a handful of wealthy people who have shelled out millions to ride Russian rockets to the international space station.
The debut of Branson's craft could not come sooner for the scores of wannabe astronauts eager to pay big money to experience zero gravity.
Rene Kaerskov, a 43-year-old would-be space tourist who splits his time between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, said he choked up at the sight and could not wait to climb aboard.
"It will be a top-of-the-line adventure," he said.
After SpaceShipOne's history-making flights, many space advocates believed private companies would offer suborbital space joyrides before the end of this decade. Virgin Galactic once predicted passengers could fly into space by 2007.
George Washington University space policy scholar John Logsdon called the milestones "measured progress." He was not surprised the commercial space industry is still in its infancy.
"Their business will collapse if they had an accident in one of the early flights. I'm sure they're being cautious," he said.
Tragedy struck in 2007 when an explosion killed three of Rutan's engineers during a routine test of SpaceShipTwo's propellant system. The accident delayed the engine's development.
Virgin Galactic plans to operate commercial space flights out of a taxpayer-funded spaceport under construction in New Mexico.
SpaceShipTwo will be carried aloft by White Knight Two and released at 50,000 feet. The craft's rocket engine then burns a combination of nitrous oxide and a rubber-based solid fuel to climb more than 65 miles above the Earth's surface.
After reaching the top of its trajectory, the craft will fall back into the atmosphere and glide to a landing like an airplane. Its descent is controlled by "feathering" its wings to maximize aerodynamic drag.
Virgin Galactic expects to spend more than $400 million for a fleet of five commercial spaceships and launch vehicles.
It's not the only player in the commercial space race. A handful of entrepreneurs including Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, computer game programmer John Carmack and rocketeer Jeff Greason are building their own suborbital rockets.
21 comments:
This is awesome news, sure, right now the tickets are 200,000 dollars, but as time goes on and the technology becomes more efficient and cheaper, the price of the tickets will go down big time. Great news for people everywhere who are interested in space but couldn't cut it as astronauts.
Wow, this one definately goes to the scientists and engineers that built that ship. Congradulations!!! The future looks like it will be filled with space flights and explorations in every field related to space and science.
Hopefully it won't be long until we are building fleets of space-worth ships to conquer planets and moons. *Daydreams of destorying aliens* I am a serious scifi nerd fyi.
It may be a "Virgin" spaceship, but it is one of the most sexiest spacships ever. I wonder how much money went into making it. Basically, I guess it's just for the very wealthy. Forgive me if I offend anyone, but I think it's totally useless. It's an step for technology, but other than that, it's useless. Nevertheless, I would love to go for a ride in it.
I fail to see how this pertains to government, and why personal space travel is even necessary. Yeah, I guess space travel is cool, but worth shelling out $200,000 for a 2 1/2 hour taste? I guess it's not my place to comment, seeing as I don't have two hundred grand to blow willy-nilly, for if I did, I might view this differently. Is their destination even different from where they'll take off? If so, I am doubly unimpressed. Space travel is supposed to be travel, defined as the movement from point A to point B, but if point A and B are the same with no point C in between (i.e. the moon, or a space station, or mars), then the whole trip can basically compared to a really expensive ferris wheel, and everyone knows ferris wheels are the lamest rides at the fair.
This is probably the coolest thing i have seen all day!!! If i became a bazillionaire like the rest of these soon to be astronauts i totally would buy a ticket to space.
There is a good and bad part to this scenario though.
The good is that every adult who ever dreamed of wanting to be an astronaut when they were young now get the oppurtunity. It brings such phenomenons such as space to not just astronauts and astrologists but to the average person as well. There has never been a person who has looked up at the sky and not been in awe of course except for the people who cant see past their noses. It truly is a great accomplishment for mankind and if you want to spend that much money go for it.
The bad part is that even though it brings space to the "average" person it doesn't really. The "average" person cant afford o pay 200, 000 dollars. That's like buying a really nice house. So people will still not be able to see space. Also, it does make someone think that space isn't really mysterious and wonderful if anyone who can pay can see it. I mean the space race was to show patriotism and who was the most technologically advanced. going to space brought pride to fellow countrymen. There isnt anymore pride if it doesnt have anything to do with pride. And i swear on my grave, that if we lose respect for space like we have lost respect for our environment and pollute it in however we can manage cuz humans have their ways with things, i will come back from my death bed and haunt people forever. i know thats creepy and weird but im serious. Space isnt something we can just trash and forget about as the whim dies down it doesnt work that way.
Everything that I could have found amazing or incredible or awesome about that article was completely killed by the fact that they named it SpaceShip Two. Even the thing that launches it has a better name than that. I find it ridiculous that people can dole out such unbelievable amounts of money to fund these expedentures, but can't even thing of a decent name. It's inexcusable.
Finally, a step into the future. People always thought of the new millennium as driving hover crafts and jets around rather than cars. But more exciting than that is taking a trip to outer space. It's amazing that exploration open to the public is even an option considering the economy's current status. Not everyone has $200,000 to just throw out the window, but the first personal home computer was 10,000 and took up a whole room. Perhaps as time goes on and as technology advances, there will be a more affordable spacecraft ride that will be able to seat more people.
I can't wait to see the first flight in 2011! If this succeeds without any disasters then I see a good future for commercial spaceflight. Even better would be private spacecraft so that if one wanted to visit China and back in a day they could. The only thing need to add to the equation is competition so that prices and go down and production speeds up.
Scotty,
If the private sector can successfully provide space travel, think about how much this could save the federal governments NASA budget.
On the flipside, could this possibly cause national security issues? If private companies are developing the technology, it would be up for grabs to the highest bidder.
I'm sure our govenment would have some issues with that, as well as most of the world.
Come now, haven't you learned?
It's all about government!
200k????! for 2 1/2hrs!??????? not for me. that seems kinda pointless, but i guess if you happen to have that kind of money laying around i dont know what else you could spend it on. oh wait... actually i could think of lots of things more benefitting that you could do with that money instead of blowing it all for five minutes of wieghtlessness. plus i dont think its right that theyre spending the tax payers money to fund the spaceport. but its cool that arnold was there though..
I don't care how much it costs...I wanna ride the SpaceShipTwo!!!!! This has to be the coolest thing EVER. I think this is a major development...it makes you think...what's coming next?
Wow...I think this is the coolest thing to happen since the car was first introduced. I can only imagine what this is going to do to the technology of this century. I believe that this is a giant leap for man kind. A commercial space craft will cut travel time in half and inspire millions of people who decide to literally shoot for the stars. However, Mr. P is right, if this technology falls into the wrong hands then it could be disastrous for our whole world.
This kind of reminds me of that Disney channel movie from sometime in the early 00's, Xenon or something. Bwahahaha
But yeah, this is pretty cool. I'm sure the first astronauts/cosmonauts felt pretty lonely knowing they were the only ones to ever have gone in space ever. Sure it's expensive now, but so were computers. I read somewhere that they used to be ~100k. I'm thinking that in about another hundred years or so, normal people will be able to go be like Buzz Lightyear too (only not nearly as cool or epic)...assuming that the next 100 years come...
This is really cool, in fact, it's kind of amazing. Hopefully, one day it won't cost so much to go out into space. It would be scary but so exciting and just breathtaking to experience the flight. It was a great idea!
This is a giant step for the future of exploration and travel. Even though tickets are expensive right now, as time goes on they will come down and will be more cost friendly. Afterall, I'm sure the first commercial airline tickets werent a cheap price. Who knows, maybe this is the beginning of being able to live on another planet. Imagine a time when you go over to your grandparents house on Mars for the holidays and you have to catch the shuttle to and from. Sounds pretty sweet to me...
This is realy cool. If only i had 200,000 dollars to spend on a ticket. I bet it would be well worth the effort. It comes to show you how much we have advanced in technolgy over the years.......realy amazing!
Wasting Money! Space is cool and all but come one are we more concerned with whats in the sky or whats on our own planet? Last time I check we have PLENTY of issues but that just me I guess.
The new spaceship looks like it with be awesome. 2011 is not far away at all and it is not hard to believe that this is going to be a reality. The SpaceShipTwo is one of many engineering feats that is going to define the twenty-first century. The wait is less than two years and is going to make the journey to space an actual reality for many anxious people.
This is so rediculous. I get how space can be exciting because not much people have ever been up there... But $200,000 for 2 1/2 hours of just FLOATING around in space? Really?... And all that money spent on developing a freaking spacecraft could have been used to help the starving children of africa.
Wow i cant believe that technology has brought us this far. The only bad thing is that it cost 200,000 bones! hopefully someday it will be cheeper.
I wanna go to space! That would be soooooooooooooooo cool but i dont quite have 200,000 dollars to spend on that haha. BUT when the tickets go down ill have to go! Or when im on my death bed or something haha. AND im probly not smart enough to be an astronaut unfortunatley... :]
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