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Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the up-up-and-back-again dept.

BoulderDad writes, "Richard Branson presented a mock-up of the new SpaceShipTwo in New York. From the article: 'Future passengers aboard Virgin Galactic spaceliners can look forward to cushioned reclining seats and lots of windows during suborbital flights aboard SpaceShipTwo, a concept interior of which was unveiled by British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson Thursday.' The video is worth watching; the spaceport details are more concept than reality, but the depiction of the phases of space flight is very good."

2 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Blue's Clues Spaceship Cruise? by eln · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From TFA:

    "If you're going to build a spaceship, you've got to build a green spaceship," Branson said, adding that the carbon dioxide output from a single spaceflight is on par with those of a business class seat aboard commercial aircraft.

    So, they aren't going to pollute much at all. As for being for rich people only, well, that's generally how new technologies work. Commercial air travel was, at the beginning, a luxurious way for the wealthy to travel. New technologies are expensive, and tend to be geared at first toward people who can afford them. As these flights become routine, and as the technology improves (and especially as competition enters the market), prices will fall.

  2. Orbit? by bobs666 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Its one thing to get to some altitude, and back.

    But when will private industry make it into orbit and back.
    You need that if you want to stay for more then free fall.

    Its the speed of orbit, and reentry from that speed, that makes this hard.

    A real space tourist will want to stay a while.

    As for several minutes of weightlessness, you can get
    that from conventional aircraft.