Oct 11
Virgin Galactics Commercial Spacecraft Tested
Posted in: space, Space Tech, Today's Chili, Transportation
Though it has not quite left our atmosphere, the budding commercial spaceflight industry is officially off the ground. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, also known as the VSS Enterprise, was tested for the first time over night.
It left from Los Angeles after being launched 45,000 feet off the ground from its mothership. The VSS Enterprise accomplished both of its goals: to make sure it could leave the mothership without incident, and to land safely at the Mojave Air and Space Port.
Virgin Galactic is not alone in this race to get commercial space flight running. As PCMag.com previously reported, Boeing has already been given a $50 million government grant and has partnered with Space Adventures, which has previously sent seven people to the International Space Station. Boeing’s spacecraft will fit seven people, but it will not be ready until 2015. Virgin is way ahead of that date, though, as this test proves. It has been taking orders since 2005, with each seat costing $200,000.
It’s great to see that there’s competition — not just government funds — driving this industry. Hopefully this means that at some point, once all the testing is done and we learn that it is feasible, the price of a ticket will decline to a somewhat affordable point in which an average person will be able to purchase a ticket without wiping out their bank accounts.
Check out the footage of the VSS Enterprise’s test launch.
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