Got your spaceflight booked yet with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic? They're still saying the first space tourist flights should take off next year at a cost of $200,000--or two million frequent flier points.
Initially, the suborbital space flights will blast off from the Californian desert, but if the government of South Australia has any say in it, that might change. The SA Tourist Commissioner has suggested to Branson that the vast nothingness that makes up much of the south-central Australian state would be the perfect launching pad for Virgin Galactic flights.
If Branson considers all those nasty nuclear tests that happened in the area in the 60s, he might be able to increase his profit line by not even taking off--some of that desert probably looks just like outer space already.
As if we needed any more hype for Richard Branson's new commercial space flights, the brash billionaire hosted an event at the American Museum of Natural History yesterday to unveil his new Space Ship Two. The six-passenger pod will loft astronaut wannabes to an altitude of 68 miles. The cost? "Only" $200,000 a ticket.
Of course for that price you'll get a good view of the Earth below through 18-inch windows. Flyers will also be allowed to move around the smallish cabin for part of the flight and enjoy 4.5 minutes of weightlessness.
While Virgin still has some testing to do on both the passenger pod and the mothership that will carry it into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, the company seems totally serious about actually flying people into space. The first trips could happen as early as 2009, and Branson says the cost will come down by 2014. Start saving those nickels and dimes now, kids!
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by amandak
