December 9th, 2009
In California yesterday, space tourism company Virgin Galactic unveiled a craft designed to carry passengers on short flights into space.
800 press, future astronauts and VIP guests gathered in the desert for a press conference and to view the roll out of the world’s first commercial spaceline.
The design of SpaceShipTwo will be refined during an extensive test flying programme to commence shortly.
November 6th, 2009
A private space tourism company, Galactic Suite Limited, has announced that they will be opening the first space hotel in 2012
The company is offering a three-night stay for 3 million euros ($4.4 million).
The zero-g resort will orbit the Earth at 30,000 mph, completely circling the planet once every 80 minutes, while offering visitors 15 sunrises per day.
July 31st, 2009
Manchester City football clubowner Sheikh Mansour has added space travel to his diverse portfolio of businesses by buying 32 per cent of Virgin Galactic.
The deal, which was done through the sheikh’s company Aabar, puts the value of Virgin Galactic at $900 million even though it hasn’t begun to offer flights yet.
In return it will gain regional rights to host Virgin Galactic tourism and research flights, and is planning to build spaceport facilities in Abu Dhabi.
November 18th, 2008
Europe plans to enter the fledgling space tourism market by offering a chance to experience weightlessness to help pay for scientific research.
Novespace, a unit of France’s CNES space agency claims to be leading the field in scientific deployment with a converted Airbus A300 jetliner. With Europe’s space ambitions facing a budget squeeze due to the weak economy, the plan to mix science with adventure was unveiled in a “zero G” flight for European space agency chiefs on a converted Airbus jet.
Passengers feel twice their normal weight during the steep climb and descent but experience 22 seconds of weightlessness along the crest of the arc when engine power is sharply reduced.
The Novespace ticket sales would not aim to make a profit but would help sponsor research carried on board. The price tag would be 3,000 euros ($3,900) for 30 parabolas or 22-second bursts of weightlessness - 11 minutes in all.
Trips like these are pretty affordable and cost a fraction of the $30-35 million paid by wealthy individuals for the ultimate ride into orbit. But the only difference with weightlessness as felt in space is the time spent afloat !
July 31st, 2008
The era of space tourism has begun. Out in the Mojave desert, Virgin Galactic has unveiled, the WhiteKnightTwo, the new transport ship they’ll be using to carry their not-yet-unveiled SpaceShipTwo into suborbital space.
The passenger ship is then launched from the underside of WhiteKnightTwo to continue its ascent to the very edge of space, about 65 miles (104 kilometers) above Earth.
With a 140-foot wingspan, it’s the largest all-carbon composite aircraft ever built and many of its component parts have been built using composite materials for the very first time (A major benefit of using carbon composites is fuel efficiency.)
June 26th, 2008
Those who enjoy reading our blog may have noticed how tough life is for wealthy people who never know how to spend their money. Fortunately, companies such as Virgin always come up with great ideas to get their money back from their super rich oil suppliers.
A Russian businessman has paid $200,000 dollars to take his parents kilometers above Earth on a ride in a space ship, the Interfax news agency reported overnight.
“When I told my mother we were going to fly in space, she asked me just one question: ‘When?’ said Kutsenko, a 34-year-old who runs an advertising agency. “We booked a couple of extra places. Maybe one of our friends will want to come too,”
Another businessman, Timur Artemiev, also bought tickets along with his wife for the trip on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo craft, which is to take them 100km above the Earth.
Virgin Galactic commercial director Stephen Attenboro said 250 people, including 11 Russians, had signed up for flights on SpaceShipTwo, according to the agency. The company’s commercial space flights are due to start in 2010.
Passengers will take a two-hour flight and spend four minutes floating in zero gravity.
