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Richard Branson Plans Orbital Spaceships For Virgin Galactic
Velcroman1 writes "Following the historic first rocket-powered flight of its SpaceShipTwo vehicle, Virgin Galactic plans to build a fleet of spaceships and begin ferrying hundreds of tourists into space in 2014. And then? A whole new kind of spacecraft, Sir Richard Branson said. 'We'll be building orbital spaceships after that,' Branson told Fox News Tuesday, 'so that people who want to go for a week or two can.' Assuming the cost is on the same scale, would you pay a few hundred grand for a few weeks in orbit?"
If I could get to orbit for $1,000,000, forget it. The problem is that $200K is just barely in reach, and I'd start thinking about selling my house.
So, short answer. Yes.
Don't take life too seriously; it isn't permanent.
Would I if I had it to spend? Absolutely. Can I or most of us afford to spend the cost of a house on this? Sadly, no.
I suspect most of us will never get to do this, which sucks. Because I would dearly love to do this before I die.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
During a press conference surrounding the annoucement, Branson confirmed a name for the proposed space station has not been put forward, though he clarified "Nobody will mistake it for a mood, and please, call me Darth."
I guess the 1960s really are back.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
So many people say they want to go, but I find it amusing that of the handful of space tourists since 2001, very few have written inspiring books or stories about it. A quick check of Wikipedia seems to indicate only Guy Laliberté (flew in 2009) as authoring something about his experiences.
If going to space is so great, why haven't the few who've gone written more about it?
As a flight attendant.
In 50 years, 200K might be cheap for a Galactic Virgin.
Are you suggesting that Virgin Galactic invade Somalia?
Yeah, his clientele is still millionaires, just more of them will be able to afford it.
That said, like airplanes, eventually they should get to a point where it is a experience where you can afford it if you are middle class, and it is still fairly luxurious, if not quite opulent. Once that happens, sign up as soon as possible for the experience, as it may well become the Golden Age of Sub-orbital/Orbital flights.
Just don't wait until it is too cheap. Thirty years after that, you'll be crammed into tiny seats with screaming babies in the cabin and have to pay a fee for using the restroom on the way to see your in-laws on Moonbase Alpha.
There will always be poor, there will always be hungry, there will always be poverty. There will always be greed.
Why wait for those problems to be solved if there's no end to them and say something as exciting as human space travel for the masses is unimportant? If it helps bring down the costs and increases the amount of interest, it could one day be a solution to the poor since there are unlimited resources out there. The survival of every species on earth could depend on that innovation, research and excitement one day.
Compared to what's at stake I would encourage you to keep an open mind.
Are they going to honor my reservation with Pan Am ?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
What is the obsession with space tourism? Get a decent monitor and zoom out on Google Earth while riding a roller-coaster. Same experience. Why not guided tours of the ocean depths instead? There actually is "alien" life down there.
A suburb of the United States... one of the poorer ones.