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Driving From Apalachicola to New Orleans...with a Lunar Lander!

May 13, 2009 at 11:46 AM | 0 Comments

Jaunted editor Paul Brady is back on terra firma in the U.S. after nearly a year away in South America. So how did he get back here? By taking the ultimate road-trip. All this week, he'll be telling us just how he did it. Any questions or suggestions? Let us know.

At nearly 400 miles, the second leg of our trip, from Apalachicola to New Orleans would clock in at more than six and a half hours, but on the upside--I thought, anyway--my girlfriend and I would get a killer breakfast from our hosts at the Coombs House Inn to start the day right. But though the sausage and apple stratta was tasty, the atmosphere in the deathly silent dining room was more chilly than a morgue in Siberia.

Eager to get on to a town with a bit more life to it, we set out for New Orleans, planning to stop for nothing but gas or bathroom breaks. But cruising past signs for the USS Alabama--presumably a battleship!--we were intrigued and decided, in true Road Trip style, to drop in. Totally. Worth. It.

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Virgin Galactic Will Depart From Spaceport Sweden in 2012

March 18, 2009 at 8:56 AM | 0 Comments

Virgin Galactic hasn’t even begun to fly yet, and they’re already quick to announce new routes. Honestly, we’re not too surprised since Richard Branson is behind the whole space tourist industry.

Besides launching from the desert of New Mexico, travelers can now choose to depart from Sweden as well. The IceHotel has announced that they’ll start packaging a quick trip into space along with accommodations at their chilly hotel. The trips will depart from Spaceport Sweden in Kiruna starting in 2012, as long as all the testing—which we assume is pretty extensive—goes well. If you’re not up to an icy hotel, there’s some other Scandinavian travel agents that have been approved to book your trip too.

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Perigee Moon Alert: If You're Outside Tonight, Look Up

January 10, 2009 at 12:06 PM | 1 Comment

Here's a ray of light in an otherwise dark time of year. Tonight, billions of people around the world will witness a perigee Moon, a once or twice a year phenomena that results in the biggest, brightest full Moon the lunar cycle. As the Moon men of NASA point out, a perigee Moon is as much as 14% wider and 30% brighter than "lesser moons" because it's about 50,000 kilometers closer to the earth than when it's at its apogee. The result is a big, beautiful moon that casts an otherworldly glow over the earth, bright enough to "read a newspaper, ride a bike, write a letter, and at the same time count the stars overhead."

Unlike NASA, we don't actually recommend you count stars while riding your bike, but you ought to make a point of getting outside at some point tonight and looking up in the sky. Find the night setting on your digital camera and see what kind of photos you can get, as they might make a good desktop wallpaper. The weather forecast calls for snow tonight in many parts of the U.S., which might obscure the moonlight, but I'm sure plenty of people will do a double take at the sky as they stumble out of the bars, pausing for a moment to gaze at the celestial show.

[Photo: NASA]

Related Stories:
· Biggest Full Moon of the Year, Take 2 [NASA]
· Tonight's Full Moon Closest, Brightest of the Year [The Ledger-Enquirer]
· Moon Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

Massive Fireball Spotted Over Alberta And Saskatchewan

November 21, 2008 at 12:04 PM | 0 Comments

Hundreds of people in Western Canada Thursday night reported seeing a flaming object streak across the sky, variously describing it as green, yellow, purple and blue, brighter than a lightening strike and as loud as fireworks.

But before you get your UFO theories in order, know that aviation and astronomy experts say it was most likely a meteorite--though they can't say it was for certain. Says a professor at the University of Alberta:

What we probably saw was a fireball, which is the result of a rock coming into the atmosphere. The big question now is whether or not anything hit the ground.

While you might think a huge fireball would be easily tracked to its landing place, meteorites actually stop burning in the last few moments of their falls. That makes tracking the space rocks--if they don't burn up completely in the atmosphere--incredibly difficult: Fewer than 50 have ever been found in Canada.

Related Stories:
· Meteorite and Impacts Advisory Committee to the Canadian Space Agency [Official Site]
· Massive Fireball Lights up Night Skies in Alberta, Saskatchewan [Calgary Herald]
· ET Travel: Gillian Anderson Let Down Her Guard [Jaunted]

[Photo: Groovycandies.com]

Four Things We Will (Sadly) Never See

November 18, 2008 at 4:00 PM | 2 Comments

We're not too big on predictions around here, as we prefer to tell you what's actually happening, not what might be happening. So it's with a heavy heart that we're making some educated guesses and declaring that the following four things will not be on your travel radar in the coming years--and sadly could never exist:

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Beyond Ombudsmanship: Jilted Space Tourist Sues for $21 Million

September 27, 2008 at 12:16 PM | 0 Comments

This one's worth following because it could just as easily have happened to you or me. A 37-year-old Japanese businessman named Daisuke Enomoto thought he had booked the vacation of a lifetime, a 10-day visit to the International Space Station in September, 2006. Reuters points out that Enomoto paid $21 million to Virginia-based Space Adventures to make the arrangements, completed his training, and was all set to blast off in a Russian Soyuz capsule when he was bumped from the mission due to health reasons.

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Fall Travel: October Sky Festival

September 23, 2008 at 12:30 PM | 0 Comments

For fans of space, rockets and the movie "October Sky", it's time to make the pilgrimage to Coalwood, West Virginia, for the 10th anniversary of the October Sky Festival. The festival celebrates local hometown hero, Homer Hickam, the author who inspired the film about his childhood adventures involving rocketry.

Festival attendees will enjoy model rocket launches from nearby "Cape Coalwood," and performers from across the state will provide a backdrop of bluegrass.

The festival starts at 10 am on October 4 and it's free. Shuttle Astronaut Tom Jones will also be on hand to share his space experience, and NASA is even bringing a moon rock for guests to check out. After the click, check out an exceedingly earnest video tour of 2007's fest.

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More Galactic Fallout: More Video of Virgin's Newest Plane

August 5, 2008 at 3:35 PM | 0 Comments

Didn't get enough Virgin Galactic as we were liveblogging the unveiling of WhiteKnightTwo last week? Then allow us to present this video from our pals at Boing Boing tv.

Host Xeni Jardin chats with Buzz Aldrin, Richard Branson and David Cush to get more scoop on the launch vehicle that--fingers crossed--will be lofting paying passengers 62 miles above Earth by 2012.

Related Stories:
· Virgin Galactic with Buzz, Branson and Rutan [BBtv]
· More Photos of WhiteKnightTwo [Jaunted]
· Virgin Galactic Launch: Now With Video! [Jaunted]
· Richard Branson and Burt Rutan Wow Mojave [Jaunted]

Adventures of Link: Space!

July 28, 2008 at 6:48 PM | 0 Comments

We were hardly the only ones out in Mojave today covering the unveiling of Richard Branson's latest baby. We also spotted a bunch of travel bloggers, some aviation reporters, a couple friends from Virgin America and, why not, Buzz Aldrin.

So to spread the love around--and give you a more complete picture on what's up--we're linking to some of our pals today who also braved the desert heat to poke, prod and videotape White Knight Two.

Related Stories:
· Virgin Galactic Shows off Mothership [AP, via Google]
· Branson Unveils Space Tourism Jet [BBC]
· Live from Virgin Galactic [CrunchGear]
· Virgin Galactic WK2 Photos [Gizmodo]
· Like You Could've Missed It: Our Virgin Galactic coverage [Jaunted]

Virgin Galactic Launch: More Photos of White Knight Two

July 28, 2008 at 4:38 PM | 0 Comments

We're out in the Mojave Desert today for the roll out of Virgin Galactic's White Knight Two, the carrier vehicle for SpaceShipTwo.

In addition to our video, we also found time to shoot tons of pics before we were hustled back to LA by the Virgin crew. From a glamour shot of Richard and Burt to a shot of the plane's throwback Vargas Girl, you'll find our faves below.

In all, we were in Mojave for about three hours, inside a hangar with White Knight One, while hearing all about WK2, parked out front. A media spectacle? Sure. But definitely a historic unveiling of a plane we'd love to hop on.

Related Stories:
· Richard Branson and Burt Rutan Wow Mojave [Jaunted]
· Charles Ogilvie Wants a Piece of Space [Jaunted]
· Virgin Galactic coverage [Jaunted]

Virgin Galactic Launch: Now With Video!

July 28, 2008 at 1:24 PM | 1 Comment

We're out in the Mojave Desert today for the roll out of Virgin Galactic's White Knight Two, the carrier vehicle for SpaceShipTwo.

If our first photo of Virgin's new spaceship didn't do it for ya, how's this video?

To the left of the frame, it's Richard Branson, hanging over a Vargas Girl based on his mum. To the right, it's Burt Rutan, the founder of Scaled Composites and the mastermind of the WK2.

After minutes of waving, they finally came down out of the ship and started answering questions about the massive all-carbon-fiber beast.

Related Stories:
· Richard Branson and Burt Rutan Wow Mojave [Jaunted]
· Charles Ogilvie Wants a Piece of Space [Jaunted]
· Virgin Galactic coverage [Jaunted]

Virgin Galactic Launch: Richard Branson and Burt Rutan Wow Mojave

July 28, 2008 at 12:38 PM | 0 Comments

We're out in the Mojave Desert today for the roll out of Virgin Galactic's White Knight Two, the carrier vehicle for SpaceShipTwo.

Stagecraft master Richard Branson just rolled up to a hangar in Mojave with Burt Rutan riding in the White Knight Two. We have to admit: It looks pretty awesome.

The all-carbon-fiber ride is the largest such vehicle on Earth, and it also happens to be the most fuel efficient airplane ever created.

Over the coming months, it'll be run through a battery of ground and air tests, gearing up for its marraige to SpaceShipTwo, the actual space vehicle that Branson hopes will ferry passengers 62 miles up by 2012.

Related Stories:
· Virgin Galactic coverage [Jaunted]
· Charles Ogilvie Wants a Piece of Space [Jaunted]