Slashdot Mirror
Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo
RobGoldsmith writes to tell us that Virgin Galactic has unveiled their latest take on manned space travel for the immediate future: SpaceShipTwo. The craft comes complete with matching mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, and will be officially unveiled today in the Mojave Desert just after dark. "Subject to certain US regulatory requirements that will guide the unveiling, SS2 will be attached to her WK2 mothership which was last year unveiled and named EVE after Sir Richard Branson's mother. In the future, WK2 will carry SS2 to above 50,000 feet (16 kilometers) before the spaceship is dropped and fires her rocket motor to launch into space from that altitude. In honor of a long tradition of using the word Enterprise in the naming of Royal Navy, US Navy, NASA vehicles and even science fiction spacecraft, Governor Schwarzenegger of California and Governor Richardson of New Mexico will today christen SS2 with the name Virgin Space Ship (VSS) ENTERPRISE. This represents not only an acknowledgment to that name’s honorable past but also looks to the future of the role of private enterprise in the development of the exploration, industrialization and human habitation of space."
The display on NCC-1701x that shows several ships and a Space Shuttle prototype is now inaccurate... unless Gary Seven sabotages the Virgin craft... hmmm....
Space...The final frontier to make money. These are the Voyages of the VSS Enterprise...it's 30-minute a week mission to make orbital space as much of a tourist destination as the Carribean...
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Well...
* Hobbyist watch repairs as a teenager.
* Machinist in Detroit.
* Steam engine repairs for Westinghouse.
* Engineer at Edison Illuminating Company (promoted to chief engineer)
Kinda sounds like the type of guy who could build a car. :) Not that I like Fords though, I prefer GM vehicles. :)
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
You're right, Virgin Space Ship does indeed make the 40 year old geeky technicians sound bad.
They really like Microsoft Visual SourceSafe?
Good God, I hope that isn't it...
Don't forget the Garlic Bubble!
You have obviously never listened to Pink Floyd after smoking marijuana.
yep, delivery is scheduled for 2012....or if nobody's home delivery is rescheduled for 2029
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people
That the guy that I guess history will say started commercial space flight for real, owned a company that used to sell cassettes and records.
Yeah, but what really makes me wonder is how did he afford it? I thought everyone went bankrupt after the "collapse" of the Recording and Movie industry? At least that's what the MPAA and RIAA said.
I hear Bill gates isn't doing too well either, according to the BSA. He's a couple dozen pirated Win7 keys away from begging on a street corner I hear.../p
I'd like 1 kHz worth please.
The Code Master
I am curious about those "regulatory requirements" that "guide the unveiling".
Anybody know what that is all about?
DMV opening hours.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
Hopefully not during, "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun."
f u cn rd ths u cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgmng
"The problem with GOLD is that if you had a huge gold nugget sitting in space, some have said it wouldn't be worth the cost of de-orbiting it."
Well, you can deorbit a solid gold asteroid itself fairly cheaply.
It's paying compensation to the next of kin of several hundred million vaporised civilians that's the expensive part.
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
It is a translation of an ancient Ferengi concept, meaning "a business organization".
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
That explains the Bush Administration and Iraq. If so, September 11th WAS an inside job.
"still in the IT industry and laid a lot of networks."
Haha!! Who says geeks never get laid?
Oh wait...
"Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing - and it was everything that I thought it could be."
Remember how GE got started?
Yes, he started out as a Private and worked his way up the ranks to General.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Bill Gates: software to charity
John Carmack: commander keen to rocketry
the Einstein: patent stamper to all your base
Spiderman: lab geeks to ballet dancer
Our ability to innovate, surprise, excel, and generally succeed has nothing to do with what you think you can do. But more to do with what you are willing to do. Let's not mention the failed ones hehehe.