Space tourism sounds exciting and unforgettable and all, but with a single trip costing as much as a small house, it’s simply out of reach for the average person. A company called Paragon Space Development Corp is hoping to change that with a new, more affordable ticket to space. It’ll cost as much as a slightly smaller house.
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This is what a Virgin Galactic supersonic flight with the SpaceShipTwo looks like, up close and personal. It’s not quite space, but it’s still damn gorgeous to watch.
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Some super lucky people win cars, and some win money, while the rest of us are happy to win a jar of jellybeans for guessing how many there are. And then there’s this guy: “Pedro” from Brazil (the only information given about him) won a trip to space today, and all he had to do was guess how high in the atmosphere a balloon got before it burst. More »
Space tourism? Yeah, been there, doing that. But in the world of private travel, there’s really no such thing as too much competition. Today, the newly formed Golden Spike Company took the wraps off of an exceedingly ambitious plan that would eventually see pairs of citizens hoisted up to the moon for a cool $1.5 billion. Before you brush it off as fancy dreaming, it’s worth nothing that the firm’s CEO previously worked for NASA, while it has amassed a lineup of advisers that includes Newt Gingrich, former NASA shuttle program manager Wayne Hale and Homer Hickam, a former NASA engineer. It clearly understands what it’s up against in trying to make this a reality, but loads of questions remain — there’s no firm word on how it’ll fund itself as it works up to that inaugural flight, and there doesn’t appear to a pre-order link on its website. But hey, at least those recent Powerball winners now have something even they can’t afford, right?
Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt
Via: Wired
Source: NBC News, Golden Spike Company [PDF]
Richard Branson has long said that he’d be on board Virgin Galactic’s first commercial space tourism flight, and he’s now confirmed that will take place sometime next year with his two adult children along for the ride (a bit of a delay from the company’s original 2011 target). That trip will of course be made with the company’s SpaceShipTwo craft, which has already completed a number of test flights, and which is capable of flying 100 kilometers (or just over 60 miles) above the Earth for a planned two and a half hour flight with five minutes of weightlessness. As the AP notes, some 529 people have already signed up for the $200,000 per person rides into space, each of whom will have to take part in a week of training prior to their trip. Bookings can still be made on Virgin Galactic’s website.
Filed under: Transportation
Richard Branson confirms Virgin Galactic’s first space tourism flight will launch next year with him on board originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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