Virgin Galactic: Richard Branson, that hot air balloning nut and playboy of the airline business, has created a new company to offer paid spaceflights. He’s entered a deal with Scaled Composites to license the technology behind SpaceShipOne.
By the end of the decade, Virgin Galactic — the most exciting development in the story of modern space history — is planning to make it possible for almost anyone to visit the final frontier at an affordable price.
I gotta admit, the name of the company is very, very cool. Can’t wait to fly. From the Wikipedia entry (yes, it’s already up and has better information than any of the news outlets):
The Virgin SpaceShips are to be named using the prefix VSS (“Virgin SpaceShip”). The first craft is to be the VSS Enterprise, perhaps a nod to Star Trek’s USS Enterprise.
Of course, all of this depends on the success of the SpaceShipOne flight tomorrow. This is not the test we talked about a few months ago — this is a real run at the X Prize. SpaceShipOne has to make the flight tomorrow and another one within two weeks.
Shatner aims for real 'Star Trek': This bodes very well for the Virgin Galactic venture. Compared to the $20 million Dennis Tito paid to go to the international space station, $210,000 isn't a bad deal. [William Shatner] is among more than 7,000 people who have told Richard Branson they would…
World's first civilian space shot launches from Mojave Desert: No confirmmation on their altitude yet, but everyone is home safely. SpaceShipOne pilot Mike Melvill was aiming to fly 62 miles above the Earth's surface. The exact altitude reached was not immediately confirmed by radar. The ship touched down at Mojave Airport to…
