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Tags: Space Tourism / Science Travel / New Mexico Travel / Virgin Galactic / → All Tags
New Mexico's Spaceport America Is Opening For Tours, No Blastoffs Yet
If you’re patiently awaiting the launch of Virgin Galactic, there’s something new to keep you entertained for a little bit. Bulldozers and cranes at Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico have been moving dirt and rocks around to get things ready for rockets, shuttles, and spaceships. Things have been progressing so well that public tours will begin in December—looks like a great holiday gift.
The tours will require a snazzy hardhat, because of course, it’s a work zone and they don’t want any lawsuits injuries. Visitors will learn all about the history of New Mexico from conquistadors to the state’s future in outer space tourism. The highlight of the tour will be to see the runway and the vertical launch pad up close and personal. Maybe you'll even be able to add your initials if the concrete is still wet.
Tags: Space Tourism / Virgin Galactic / Science Travel / → All Tags
The Best Way To Jumpstart Space Tourism Is...Not To Go To Space?
If you want to be a space tourist today, pretty much your only option is to pay a space tourism company hundreds of millions of dollars to hook you up with the Russians. While that usually works—and it doesn't always—it's hardly what most people mean when they talk about broad-based "space tourism." They mean an industry where space is accessible as a luxury vacation option to a variety of tourists.
A new report on the industry insists that the only way to open up outer space is to start small:
Tags: Virgin Galactic / Richard Branson / White Knight Two / → All Tags
Virgin Galactic Determined to Send Folks Into Space
While we thought their collection of songs for an playlist in space was just a joke, it looks like Virgin Galactic is still really serious about putting civilian folks into space. Richard Branson reportedly sold about a third of the space travel start-up to a Middle Eastern investment fund to speed up the
British billionaire Sir Richard Branson signed a deal Tuesday to sell about a third of his space travel startup Virgin Galactic to a Mideast investment fund, giving the venture an influx of cash at a time when the global recession has dried up funding sources.
Aabar Investments will pay $280 million for a 32 percent share of the company, according to the agreement that also gives the wealthy Persian Gulf sheikdom of Abu Dhabi a chance to set up its own space flight industry.
Branson of course, conducted the signing much like he does anything else related to his Virgin companies: he don a black Virgin flight suit and took his first ride in the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, designed to launch a ship into space (pictured, above, last summer). Virgin Galactic is expected to take off from Sweden in 2012 with flight tickets costing $200,000 a piece. Hmmm...we'll see about that.
Related Stories:
· Virgin Galactic Will Depart from Spaceport Sweden in 2012 [Jaunted]
· Virgin Galactic Launch: More Photos of White Knight Two [Jaunted]
· Space travel startup Virgin Galactic gets $280M boost from Abu Dhabi fund buying 32 pct share [AP via Chicago Tribune]
Tags: Twitter / Moon Landing / Apollo 11 / NASA / Virgin Galactic / → All Tags
NASA Celebrates Moon Landing, Twitter Followers and a Repaired Space Toilet
While Prez Obama was honoring the Apollo 11 crew in DC this morning on the 40th anniversary of the spaceship's lunar landing, the name Apollo 11 was rapidly becoming a Trending Topic on Twitter. We're sad to say that's not really a good thing as spammers have recently begun including Trending Topics and hashtags on their spam tweets so that they show up in Twitter searches. Oh the ups and downs of Twitter. Btw, have you heard of the hotel who took out a billboard ad to advertise their Twitter feed? Yeah. That's how insane Twitter is now.
Still, we looked to the all-knowing NASA Twitter page to see what they were tweeting about on one of their high holy days. And it turned out, today was a big day for NASA. Along with the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, NASA notched their 100,000th Twitter follower and they successfully completed a spacewalk to repair a toilet at the US Destiny Lab Space Station. Hurrah!
Meanwhile, hopeful space travel traveler, Virgin Galactic, is collecting songs for a playlist that will be played for passengers in space. Something tells us aspiring astronaut Lance Bass will want to be on both the Virgin Galactic launch and the playlist. VG: you can do better.
Join the travel twitter conversation, follow us here.
Related Stories:
· Guinness Giving Away a 2012 Space Trip on Virgin Galactic [Jaunted]
Tags: Travel Giveaways / Virgin Galactic / Guinness / Virgin / Space Travel / → All Tags
Guinness Giving Away a 2012 Space Trip on Virgin Galactic
The world’s most famous stout purveyors are upping the ante in travel giveaways; Guinness is celebrating the company’s 250th anniversary with a spate of special events throughout the summer, and instead of just giving away a couple of tickets to Ireland, the Dublin-based brewers are promoting their celebration by offering one lucky winner the chance to hop on board Virgin Galactic.
Guinness has reserved a $200,000 seat on Richard Branson’s private spacecraft, and one lucky drinker will be among the first astro-tourists to ride on the rocketship when it takes off in 2012. Two runners-up will receive more earthly prices—a four-day cruise aboard the Guinness Deep Sea Bar—an underwater adventure around Norway’s Lofoten Islands—and the chance to enjoy an exclusive studio performance from the Black Eyed Peas.
The catch? Well actually, they’re not saying yet. You’ll have to keep an eye on Guinness’ web site for details on how to win. Obviously, we’ll be checking for updates religiously.
Related Stories:
· Remarkable Experiences [Guinness]
· Virgin Galactic Will Depart From Spaceport Sweden in 2012 [Jaunted]
· More Galactic Fallout: More Video of Virgin's Newest Plane [Jaunted]
[Photo: Guinness]
Tags: Virgin Galactic / Richard Branson / Space Travel / Space Tourism / → All Tags
Virgin Galactic Will Depart From Spaceport Sweden in 2012
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.
Tags: Virgin Galactic / Richard Branson / Burt Rutan / Space Travel / Space Tourism / Videos / Xeni Jardin / → All Tags
More Galactic Fallout: More Video of Virgin's Newest Plane
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]
Tags: Virgin Galactic / Richard Branson / Burt Rutan / Space Travel / Space Tourism / → All Tags
Virgin Galactic Launch: More Photos of White Knight Two
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]
Tags: Virgin Galactic / Richard Branson / Burt Rutan / Space Travel / Space Tourism / Videos / → All Tags
Virgin Galactic Launch: Now With Video!
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]
Tags: Virgin Galactic / Richard Branson / Burt Rutan / Space Travel / Space Tourism / → All Tags
Virgin Galactic Launch: Richard Branson and Burt Rutan Wow Mojave
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]
Tags: Virgin Galactic / Richard Branson / Charles Ogilvie / Space Travel / Space Tourism / → All Tags
Virgin Galactic Launch: Charles Ogilvie Wants a Piece of Space
We're out in the Mojave Desert today for the roll out of Virgin Galactic's White Knight Two, the carrier vehicle for SpaceShipTwo.
What better way to kick off our space ship coverage today than to post a photo of Charles Ogilvie mugging with a model of one. The man may be holding controllers for Virgin America's RED system, but you never know what partnerships could happen, says Charles, who now works at Panasonic:
Much of the entertainment [on Virgin Galactic] will probably be looking outside and the sensations: Don't forget the fact that you're weightless and that's pretty cool! We certainly envision areas where Panasonic innovation can help capture and take a little of such a profound experience back to Earth with you.
Hmmm... Built-in panoramic cameras? Memory stick readers and seat-back email capability? Video chat with friends from 62 miles up? Guess we'll find out soon enough.
Related Stories:
· Virgin Galactic coverage [Jaunted]
· Charles Ogilvie coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Celeb Travel / Space Travel / Rafael Nadal / Virgin Galactic / → All Tags
Otherworldly Champion Travel: Nadal's in Space
Rafael Nadal blasted off at this year's Wimbledon to whomp Roger Federer in the fifth set of the finals. Now the 22-year-old superstar is getting an interstellar tribute: An asteroid in the belt between Mars and Jupiter will be named for him.
The rock, which measures four kilometers in diameter, isn't suitable for, say, a vacation house, but Rafa's welcome to watch it move through space from the Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca, the Balearic isle where he was born. Right now the best he can hope for is to ride past it on Virgin Galactic.
Related Stories:
· Championship Travel: No Racquets on Nadal's Vacation [Jaunted]
· Nadal Star Power Stretches to Far Reaches of Galaxy [Reuters]
· Space Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: drumerboy]
