tecoyah

It was only a matter of time, and if I had the money, you bet your ass I would be on the waiting list. If you look at this guys record of ventures, this looks as if it is seriously going to happen.

http://www.rednova.com/news/stories/.../story004.html



SpaceShipOne image by AP/Scaled Composites - click to enlarge.
LONDON (AFP) -- British airline magnate Richard Branson announced a hugely ambitious plan for the world's first commercial space flights, saying he would send "thousands" of fee-paying astronauts into orbit in the next five years.

Branson, a flamboyant communicator and high-profile tycoon, said his Virgin Atlantic airline had signed a technology licensing deal with the US company behind SpaceShipOne, which in June became the first private manned craft to travel to space.

Addressing reporters in central London, Branson said that the new firm -- Virgin Galactic -- would launch its maiden flight in only three years, and that he would join the very first trip into space.

"Within five years, Virgin Galactic will have created over 3,000 new astronauts from many countries," Branson said, speaking alongside US aviation pioneer Burt Rutan, who designed and built SpaceShipOne.



"Many of these countries will have not had the funds to date to compete with the government-funded space programmes of the superpowers.

"We plan to construct launch pads for commercial space travel in a number of countries over the next few years."

Such a vastly ambitious plan is typical of the 54-year-old serial entrepreneur, who first made a fortune with the Virgin pop record label before branching out into air travel, railways and a string of other ventures.

Virgin has signed an agreement worth 14 million pounds (20.5 million euros, 25 million dollars) with Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which owns the technology behind SpaceShipOne, it announced.

Would-be space tourists will pay fees starting at 115,000 pounds (170,000 euros, 207,000 dollars) and receive three days of flight training before embarking on the real trip.

In a near-messianic speech, Branson pledged that his principal aim was to make space travel possible for ordinary people.


"Virgin Galactic will be run as a business, but as a business with a sole purpose of making space travel more and more affordable to people throughout the world," he said.

"We will re-invest the funds raised over the first few years of flight back into the business, striving constantly to lower prices."

For years, Branson said, he had "dreamt of seeing the beauty of our planet from space".

He added: "Burt and I will be fortunate enough to have fulfilled our own personal dreams and to experience all of this on the inaugural flight over Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise in three years' time."

However a space expert warned that Branson's plan, while technically feasible, was riddled with potential difficulties and unlikely to usher in an immediate era of mass space travel.

"It is something that is technically possible, but space is a very expensive business, and space tourism is likely to remain an expensive business for a very long time," said Andre Balogh, professor of space physics at London University's Imperial College.

Monday's announcement was best viewed as a "statement of intent", Balogh said.

"Eventually it will come. Whether it will come in Richard Branson's time, and in his way, remains to be seen," he told AFP.

SpaceShipOne shot into the history books in June when it became the first non-government-financed manned spaceship to travel beyond the 100-kilometre (62-mile) boundary of space and back again.

The craft now aims to win the so-called "X-Prize", a 10-million-dollar bounty on offer for sending a private craft capable of carrying three people into space twice.

SpaceShipOne is scheduled to fly again this Wednesday, and then once more on October 4.

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guthmund

You're damn right if I had the money, I'd be right there.

This is so cool. Now if I only had my flying car....

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No signature. None. Seriously.

minyn

just seems so futuristic, the movie kind of futuristic. the kind i never believed in. wow

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"Woke up this morning with a blue moon in my eye"
~A3 "woke up this morning"

"Don't compromise yourself, you're all you've got." -Janis Joplin

feelgood

What the hell are we gonna "tour" in space?

There's nothing to look at except the big blue ball known as "Earth" Maybe the moon if you have a week of free time...

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Looking out the window, that's an act of war. Staring at my shoes, that's an act of war. Committing an act of war? Oh you better believe that's an act of war

Glory's Sun

seems like this is the modern day "Titanic" .. but yeah it'd be cool as hell

the_marq

Yeah, it sure would suck to go on vacation and only see the ENTIRE PLANET.

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The Truth:

Johnny Cash could have kicked Bruce Lee's ass if he wanted to.

#3 in a series

Paradise Lost

Yeah, seeing the whole planet in 22 minutes (the time it takes to orbit) for about 200,000
dollars. Sounds kinda lame... Then you have to probably decompress. It'll be GREAT!

Although, a Moon mission would be cool (as long as I didn't have to go back to Earth.)

I always try to think of all the negative things that can come from something like this, just
making a counter-point arguement to myself, and I seriously can't find nothing truely
not-cool with this.

Paul Allen = Most Cool Person Ever (He's one of the heads of SpaceShipOne)

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"Marino could do it."

MageB420666

If I had the money I'd take the first flight that I could get on

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Apathy: The best outlook this side of I don't give a damn.

carrot glace

me too, oh man, me too

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"blaine is a pain and that is the truth"

The_wall

Just what space needs, tourism. Before you know it we'll see McDonalds and traffic jams in space

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"We do what we like and we like what we do!"~andrew Wk

Procrastinate now, don't put off to the last minute.

Schwan

I just had this thought that progress has been driven by visionaries, and it would seems that this has been lately replaced by calculation. I guess it's good to see visionaries like Branson around.

Zotz

Sounds like a blast!

http://www.virgingalactic.com/

kutulu

mabye not the first flight. I think flight 100 would be fine for me.

skier

I can't believe you're that cynical feelgood.
Imagine blasting off a rocketpad at 4G, the entire ship shivering at the power of the engine pushing you out of out atmosphere. Imagine the earth falling away around you, and the horizon becoming bluer and darker until you can see the black expanse of space, dwarfing you and your whole planet. Imagine seeing stars only a handful of other people have seen. Watching our beautiful blue and green globe spinning below you. And imagine floating freely around in the ship, weightless. Then screaming down through the atmosphere, slowing down from some 26,000 MPH to 750 in about 2 minutes. It would be an experience of a lifetime! Well worth the 200K to be one of the first to do it.

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Destrox

If I had a spare $200,000 I would easily sign up. But I would wait after a good number of previous flights to go, for I want all the bugs worked out.

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Gortexfogg

It's only a matter of time now 'til this becomes more and more affordable. Like the guy said, a hotel in space is not too far off...