RitcheyRch
05-23-2007, 07:38 AM
I would go if the price was right.
http://www.wired.com/science/space/magazine/15-06/ff_space_virgin
Don't bother asking muttonchopped aerospace samurai Burt Rutan for a peek behind the 50-foot hangar doors at his Mojave, California, skunk works. He'll show off his new airships "when they're ready to fly," he huffs in an email. With SpaceShipOne, the first private vehicle to carry a human into space, safely berthed at the Smithsonian museum, the next generation is taking shape. According to industry sources, Rutan's Scaled Composites engineering crew has locked down designs and started laying up carbon fiber for two new craft: a supersize SpaceShipTwo plus a reconceived White Knight Two mother ship to haul it aloft.
This is encouraging news for billionaire mogul Richard Branson. His Virgin Galactic spaceline, the front runner in a crowded field of space-tourism initiatives that includes the Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin, has ordered five SS2s and two WK2s in a short-term exclusive deal. Rutan's progress is also bound to please the more than 100 wannabe astronauts who have shelled out up to $200,000 each to reserve a seat Elon Musk of SpaceX among them. Sources expect a rollout early next year, followed by at least 12 months of testing. The first commercial passenger flights into space might start as soon as 2009.
Like its X Prize-winning predecessor, SpaceShipTwo will fling passengers to the edge of space at 3,000 mph. But while the original craft was barely a three-seater, the new version is designed for six passengers and two pilots. New features maximize the wow factor: bigger windows, more room for weightless floating, and Virgin-cool details sprinkled throughout.
The SS2 is simply a bigger version of the original rocket, but the jet-powered WK2 is a total redesign. The first mother ship had a single fuselage. The new one accommodates the expanded ship with twin hulls that hold the SS2 suspended between them. The interior of one hull is a replica of the SS2: Passengers will ride along in training for a full-on space voyage the next day. FAA permitting, the second hull will carry cut-rate day-trippers into the stratosphere. The vehicle is being engineered to perform zero-g aerobatic swoops on the way down.
Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic is busily preparing for customers. Top priority: low-cost space suits. Even a stripped-down high-altitude jet pilot's pressure suit is restrictive enough to kill the fun of going weightless, so Virgin Galactic is putting a premium on comfort. The target price is $20,000 (versus up to $20 million for NASA shuttle crew gear) for a durable unisuit with a pull-on hood for breathing, in the event of accidental cabin depressurization.
Also on the list: a suitably cool ground base. In a burst of cosmic consciousness (and economic self-interest), citizens of New Mexico voted in April for a sales tax to fund Spaceport America, a launch facility on the edge of White Sands Missile Range. Virgin Galactic signed a deal in late 2005 to headquarter its operations there. But $198 million in promised funding so far has amounted to an access road and a small launchpad, with key environmental and FAA certification still to come. Fortunately, the recently christened Mojave Air & Space Port formerly Mojave Airport is ready and waiting in California.
But other options are proliferating. Specs for the SS2/WK2 combo call for a 2,600-mile range, which means Virgin Galactic can fly it across the Atlantic in search of launch venues. Spaceport Sweden has already signed on for flights from its Kiruna site just the place for midwinter jaunts straight into the aurora borealis. The UK's Royal Air Force is offering Lossiemouth base in Scotland, and various Middle Eastern and Asian governments want in. "We'll go where people are," VG president Will Whitehorn says. From there, the sky is the limit.
http://www.wired.com/science/space/magazine/15-06/ff_space_virgin
Don't bother asking muttonchopped aerospace samurai Burt Rutan for a peek behind the 50-foot hangar doors at his Mojave, California, skunk works. He'll show off his new airships "when they're ready to fly," he huffs in an email. With SpaceShipOne, the first private vehicle to carry a human into space, safely berthed at the Smithsonian museum, the next generation is taking shape. According to industry sources, Rutan's Scaled Composites engineering crew has locked down designs and started laying up carbon fiber for two new craft: a supersize SpaceShipTwo plus a reconceived White Knight Two mother ship to haul it aloft.
This is encouraging news for billionaire mogul Richard Branson. His Virgin Galactic spaceline, the front runner in a crowded field of space-tourism initiatives that includes the Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin, has ordered five SS2s and two WK2s in a short-term exclusive deal. Rutan's progress is also bound to please the more than 100 wannabe astronauts who have shelled out up to $200,000 each to reserve a seat Elon Musk of SpaceX among them. Sources expect a rollout early next year, followed by at least 12 months of testing. The first commercial passenger flights into space might start as soon as 2009.
Like its X Prize-winning predecessor, SpaceShipTwo will fling passengers to the edge of space at 3,000 mph. But while the original craft was barely a three-seater, the new version is designed for six passengers and two pilots. New features maximize the wow factor: bigger windows, more room for weightless floating, and Virgin-cool details sprinkled throughout.
The SS2 is simply a bigger version of the original rocket, but the jet-powered WK2 is a total redesign. The first mother ship had a single fuselage. The new one accommodates the expanded ship with twin hulls that hold the SS2 suspended between them. The interior of one hull is a replica of the SS2: Passengers will ride along in training for a full-on space voyage the next day. FAA permitting, the second hull will carry cut-rate day-trippers into the stratosphere. The vehicle is being engineered to perform zero-g aerobatic swoops on the way down.
Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic is busily preparing for customers. Top priority: low-cost space suits. Even a stripped-down high-altitude jet pilot's pressure suit is restrictive enough to kill the fun of going weightless, so Virgin Galactic is putting a premium on comfort. The target price is $20,000 (versus up to $20 million for NASA shuttle crew gear) for a durable unisuit with a pull-on hood for breathing, in the event of accidental cabin depressurization.
Also on the list: a suitably cool ground base. In a burst of cosmic consciousness (and economic self-interest), citizens of New Mexico voted in April for a sales tax to fund Spaceport America, a launch facility on the edge of White Sands Missile Range. Virgin Galactic signed a deal in late 2005 to headquarter its operations there. But $198 million in promised funding so far has amounted to an access road and a small launchpad, with key environmental and FAA certification still to come. Fortunately, the recently christened Mojave Air & Space Port formerly Mojave Airport is ready and waiting in California.
But other options are proliferating. Specs for the SS2/WK2 combo call for a 2,600-mile range, which means Virgin Galactic can fly it across the Atlantic in search of launch venues. Spaceport Sweden has already signed on for flights from its Kiruna site just the place for midwinter jaunts straight into the aurora borealis. The UK's Royal Air Force is offering Lossiemouth base in Scotland, and various Middle Eastern and Asian governments want in. "We'll go where people are," VG president Will Whitehorn says. From there, the sky is the limit.