Commercial Space Flight

Jawawithagun · Post by **Jawawithagun** » 2004-06-07 04:35pm

Anyone seen this news item already?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-06-07 05:20pm

Plenty of times. It will be a great day when we do get that barrier brought down and Rutan's team seems to be on track given their first attempt.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-06-07 05:27pm

It's indeed a good thing since the US government has no aparent interest in commercializing space travel. This could lead to problems though since our government is obviously quite wary of civilians in space (they tried repeatedly to shut down the Russian space tourism program) so it wouldn't surprise me if they tried to put a ban on all civilian space travel.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-06-07 05:30pm

Here's an idea of what could happen on the first official commercial space flight.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-06-07 05:34pm

Montcalm wrote:Here's an idea of what could happen on the first official commercial space flight.

That the one where they try to dock with it but the umbilical catches fire?

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-06-07 05:36pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
Montcalm wrote:Here's an idea of what could happen on the first official commercial space flight.
That the one where they try to dock with it but the umbilical catches fire?

You know your sci-fi

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-06-07 05:37pm

Montcalm wrote:Here's an idea of what could happen on the first official commercial space flight.

A four hour New York to London journey is supposed to be a Hypersonic plane? Fuck, the new Boing hypersonic they were considering could make Seattle to Tokyo in two hours.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-06-07 05:38pm

Booyah! Not seen it in years, but a classic from memory.

I'm hoping whoever wins the X-Prize gives hope for commercial space travel for the general populace. Winning the X-Prize won't do much itself, but it may garner more interest so that within another decade or two, we may see companies giving flights to LEO or beyond and maybe even work on hypersonic airliners again like HOTOL or NASP.