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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Feb 24, 2010 20:10:15 GMT 12
Kiwis lining up to be on Virgin space flightBy CLAIRE MCENTEE - The Dominion Post | 5:00AM - Wednesday, 24 February 2010SPACE INVADER: Head of astronaut sales at Virgin Galactic, Nelsonian Carolyn Wincer, who hopes to get a free flight as a job perk. — KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post.Kiwis could be on Virgin Galactic's very first commercial flight into space, says Carolyn Wincer, the company's head of astronaut sales.
Of the seven New Zealanders who have signed up for the US$200,000 two-hour trip, three — including Christchurch-based rocket entrepreneur Mark Rocket and realtor Jackie Maw — are in the first 84, from which six will be selected.
The company, part of billionaire Sir Richard Branson's business empire, has begun to test its spacecraft and Ms Wincer guessed the first flight would be within the next couple of years.
About 330 people had booked a flight. New Zealand was Virgin Galactic's largest market per head head of population.
Passengers would experience about four minutes of weightlessness and must go through three days of training beforehand at a purpose-built spaceport in New Mexico, including G-force training and psychological preparation, she said.
They would be flown 110 kilometres into the atmosphere and be able to see 1000 kilometres in any direction. "It's a pretty amazing view," she said.
"In the blackness of space the stars and the planets are a lot clearer and you can see the blue line that's the atmosphere."
Virgin Galactic had spent US$400 million (NZ$470m) on the project, and ordered five spaceships and three carrier aircraft, to be delivered over a two to three-year period.
It planned to take 500 passengers into space in its first year of flights, and about 1000 a year thereafter.
The cost would likely come down over time to rival the cost of flying from the United States to Australia and as technology developed lengthier flights would be possible, she said.
Most people assumed space flights would have huge environmental impact but the carbon output from a Virgin Galactic space flight was less than that of a first-class return trip between London and New York.
Ms Wincer, from Nelson, worked for a collection of luxury retreats owned by Sir Richard before being head-hunted by Virgin Galactic.
She hoped a free trip into space would be a perk of the job.
"I can't sell it if I can't do it."www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/3366273/Kiwis-lining-up-to-be-on-Virgins-first-space-flight
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 24, 2010 20:27:05 GMT 12
What a complete waste of money.
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Post by Bruce on Feb 24, 2010 21:01:40 GMT 12
Personally I think its great that people have the opportunity to dream big dreams and chase them. Credit to Richard Branson for pushing the boundaries and putting so much time and money in to making this thing happen. Sure it is expensive, but chasing dreams has a cost - if its important you find a way to make it happen (just like building your own aeroplane really!). I'm actually proud to see how many Kiwis still have the sense of adventure to try something risky and different. Aparently those who have signed up arent all mega-rich either, they just have dreams that they are willing to make sacrifices to chase. Good on them I say!
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Feb 24, 2010 21:43:15 GMT 12
I imagine there were plenty of people who thought the first commercial flights in aeroplanes were a waste of money too.
Yet could you imagine life today without aeroplanes?
Give it a few years and space flights will be a regular thing. You may even be able to fly half-way around the world via a sub-orbital flight. I wonder how long before they develop “jumbo” commercial spacecraft? Imagine flying to London in an hour or so!
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jan 11, 2014 11:57:29 GMT 12
From the Los Angeles Times....Virgin Galactic spaceship reaches new heights in supersonic flightBy W.J. HENNIGAN | 10:47AM PST - Friday, January 10, 2014Virgin Galactic successfully completed the third rocket-powered supersonic flight of its passenger-carrying reusable space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo. — Photo: MarsScientific.com & Clay Center Observatory/January 10th, 2014.MOJAVE, CALIFORNIA — Virgin Galactic, British billionaire Richard Branson’s commercial space venture, reached its highest altitude yet on Friday in a supersonic rocket plane that’s set to carry paying customers into sub-orbit later this year.
The company’s SpaceShipTwo blasted through the sound barrier and sped to Mach 1.4, climbing to 71,000 feet in its first powered test flight of the year.
The flight, the program's third rocket-powered test flight, is the latest milestone in Virgin Galactic’s goal to take dozens of people into space multiple times each day.
The test flight took place shortly after sunrise on Friday beginning on the desert runway at Mojave Air and Space Port, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. During the test, SpaceShipTwo was taken to about 46,000 feet by a carrier aircraft and dropped like a bomb.
After a short free fall, test pilots Dave Mackay and Mark Stucky engaged the hybrid rocket motor, powered by nitrous oxide and a rubber compound, for about 16 seconds, at which point SpaceShipTwo accelerated to Mach 1.4.
Mackay, who left his job as an airline captain at Virgin Atlantic to become chief pilot for the space company, was at the controls. It was his first powered flight.
“To be behind the controls and fly it as the rocket ignited is something I will never forget,” he said. “She flew brilliantly.”
The two pilots tested the spaceship’s reaction control system, which will allow it to maneuver in space, and a newly installed thermal protection coating on the vehicle’s tail booms. All of the flight objectives were successfully completed, the company said.
The idea of Virgin Galactic routinely taking passengers into space this way was developed by retired maverick aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and his Mojave company, Scaled Composites.
Until now, astronauts have reached space packed tight in a capsule or shuttle attached to a high-powered rocket.
Instead, Virgin Galactic will use a WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft that will fly with the reusable SpaceShipTwo rocket plane under its wing to 50,000 feet, where the spaceship will separate and blast off.
When the rocket motor engages, it will power the spaceship to nearly 2,500 mph and take the pilot — and up to six passengers — to the edge of space, or more than 60 miles above the Earth's surface.
Once they reach that suborbital altitude, passengers will experience weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth. Then they will reenter the atmosphere and glide back to the runway. The price for the experience: $250,000.
If testing goes well, Virgin Galactic hopes to make its first passenger flight sometime this year from Spaceport America in New Mexico, where the company plans to conduct routine operations. The company said it has taken about 680 reservations for the ride.
The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, which resembles a flying catamaran because it has two fuselages, and SpaceShipTwo are still in the midst of a test-flight program that will continue in the Mojave until Virgin Galactic believes it can begin commercial operations.
Virgin Galactic's commercial space launch system is based on Rutan's SpaceShipOne, the world's first private manned spaceship, which successfully flew a test pilot to space and back three times during 2004 to win a $10-million X-Prize purse.
The prize-winning spacecraft caught the eye of Branson, who wanted to work with Rutan on a much bigger rocket ship that could send not only a pilot into space but also fare-paying passengers.
The enterprise was shrouded in secrecy for years. Then in 2007, during a test of the spaceship's propulsion system, an explosion killed three workers and injured three others. The blast exposed the secret project and reminded the public of the risks of rocketry.
The project continued and Branson has since built a 68,000-square-foot facility at the space port for a joint venture, called Spaceship Company, to mass-produce its rocket ship and carrier aircraft. It was one of the first aircraft assembly plants to be built in the region in decades.
A crowd of about 100 employees and airport officials gathered along the windswept flight line to watch Friday’s test flight. Among the crowd was Virgin Galactic Chief Executive George Whitesides.
“It looked like a beautiful flight,” he said. “With every flight, we’re getting a step closer to commercial service.”www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-virgin-galactic-spaceship-20140110,0,6703082.story
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