Virgin Space Travel...

Jon · Post by **Jon** » 2004-09-27 05:54am

BBC News wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3693020.stm

Virgin boss in space tourism bid

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has announced his company has signed an agreement worth £14m to secure the first commercial flights into space.

The deal with the US firm which owns the technology could be worth millions over the next 15 years, depending on the number of space vehicles built.

Prices for each seat into space are expected to start at around £115,000.

Sir Richard revealed the new venture at a briefing held on Monday at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London.

Up to 3,000 astronauts could be flying into space over a five-year period, according to Virgin.

Sir Richard said: "We hope to create thousands of astronauts over the next few years and bring alive their dream of seeing the majestic beauty of our planet from above, the stars in all their glory and the amazing sensation of weightlessness.

"The development will also allow every country in the world to have their own astronauts rather than the privileged few."

The deal is with Mojave Aerospace Ventures, the company set up by aviation pioneer Burt Rutan and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to exploit the technology developed for the private space vehicle SpaceShipOne.

SpaceShipOne is one of more than 20 other craft vying for the $10m (£5.7m) Ansari X-Prize, which rewards the first team to send a non-government, three-person craft over 100km into space, and repeat the feat in the same craft inside two weeks.

Is this a real step closer to the space tourism industry, or more Richard Branson hype?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-09-27 08:11am

Branson puts his money where his mouth is. Unlike other companies, he's got his trains ontime, his airline isn't striking over petty points and his venture capital isn't squandered on useless projects.

I'd say there's a real chance he could pull this off. If he does so, then maybe Hilton will make that orbital hotel then maybe a Lunar one and from there on, we have a space race that is fueled by industry rather than national pride and a inate sense of competition with Commies.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » 2004-09-28 07:46am

Yeah he is the kind of businessman we need really, not afraid to commit to new ventures, open up new markets and so on. His company would pay for the construction of 15 new 'spaceships' I've seen in some further reading, I reckon we're definitely on the eve of 'mass space tourism'- but as anticipated it's vastly expensive, though £115,000 per ticket is much cheaper than one would have expected

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-09-28 08:46am

I don't know, this sounds like a publicity stunt. Years ago, Pan Am did something quite similar.

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2004-09-28 09:09am

I'm with Phong. I'll believe it when I see it. It would be nice if they did it though. I'd pay alot of money to be strapped to a Russian rocket and hurled into space.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-09-28 09:56am

phongn wrote:I don't know, this sounds like a publicity stunt. Years ago, Pan Am did something quite similar.

Did Pan Am have a viable sub-orbital craft in civilian hands back then? No? Then this situation isn't even remotely analogous.

Branson, sorry, Sir Branson doesn't bullshit. If he says he's going to send tourists up in space or build a palace made entirely out of parmesan, then I'll believe him.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-09-28 10:00am

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
phongn wrote:I don't know, this sounds like a publicity stunt. Years ago, Pan Am did something quite similar.
Did Pan Am have a viable sub-orbital craft in civilian hands back then? No? Then this situation isn't even remotely analogous.

Branson, sorry, Sir Branson doesn't bullshit. If he says he's going to send tourists up in space or build a palace made entirely out of parmesan, then I'll believe him.

not only did one not exist, but there wasn't one even in development. Also Pan Am was in some deep financial shit that they never recovered from.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-09-28 12:23pm

Sounds good. But the problem is designing reusable spacecraft that can launch people safely into space for low cost. This is something powerful goverments around the world could not do yet. It is not going to be easy.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2004-09-28 01:42pm

The Shadow wrote:Sounds good. But the problem is designing reusable spacecraft that can launch people safely into space for low cost. This is something powerful goverments around the world could not do yet. It is not going to be easy.

A sub-orbital launch is much easier to accomplish than an orbital launch. In addition, he's not acutally developiong the ship, he's going to be using an improved SS1. His capital is going to be mostly going to improving the ship, and building more of them.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-09-28 03:55pm

Interestingly, people are planning for more than just sub-orbital flights of fancy. One company is the Bristol Spaceplane one which is starting with the cheap Ascender (think mini-shuttle) and - if the money comes in and the demand to boot - then much bigger craft such as the Spacecab then Spacebus.

All years away right now and very dubious, but anything to get more interest in spaceflight within industry and not letting gov'ts mess about with it instead. If I had the cash you can bet I'd be signing up for a few minutes of touching the real void.