Virgin Galactic Unveils Spaceshiptwo

by Carrie N. Culpepper (RSS feed)
Dec 9th 2009 at 4:04PM

Only 450 people have ever been to space, but if Sir Richard Branson has his way, that number will climb - and quickly.

On Monday at dusk in the Mojave Desert, Branson unveiled his latest baby, Spaceship2, pictured at right, the second in his fleet of intergalactic shuttles. SS2 was designed to take thousands of private astronauts into space after test programming and all required U.S. government licensing and regulatory approvals have been completed, which, could could take quite some time.

"This is truly a momentous day," said Branson. "The team has created not only a world first but also a work of art."

He added that the unveil "continues to provide tangible evidence that this ambitious project is not only moving rapidly, but also making tremendous progress towards our goal of safe commercial operation."

Branson and designer Burt Rutan have been working on the Virgin Galactic space program since 2004 when the legendary airline founder partnered with Rutan, the aviation designer who had previously designed the world's first manned commercial spaceship, SpaceshipOne. In 2004, SpaceshipOne was successfully tested, reaching a height of 330,000 feet and earning it the $10 million Ansari X-Prize for the first non-government human space flight.

The unveiling undoubtedly represents another major milestone for Branson's quest to develop the first commercial line offering non-astronauts access to space travel. We've reported on the Abu Dhabi Sheikh who's invested in the company, and the formula one drivers Rubens Barrichello and Niki Lauda, who've already paid the $200,000 ticket fee to be on an early flight - daring Lauda is even willing to pilot a trip.

The SS2 unveiling wasn't without it's star power either: Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Chris Richardson of New Mexico christened SS2 with the name Virgin Space Ship Enterprise. The design will still be further refined then undergo an extensive test-flying program. The plan is for it to carry up to six passenger astronauts and two pilot astronauts into space on a suborbital flight.

Stay tuned for the next chapter in Branson's Virgin Galactic adventure.

Tags: new mexico, sir richard branson, space travel, virgin galactic, virgin space ship enterprise

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

masonstorm Nov 16th 2010 7:49PM

I think this is one of the few times imo when privatization is a really good idea. Whether we think it’s necessary or not, we need to continue to develop new forms of space travel and technology to facilitate it. What the ppl whose only argument is “we have too many problems down here to be worrying about this,” they fail to understand the two most important implications of aeronautical research. The first is for national defense… it’s bad enough that nasa has to rely on Russia to ferry them to the ISS. If we keep going at this rate, our disadvantage will only grow as they continue to develop new technologies in their space program while we pump the brakes on ours. Is air and space superiority something you really want the Russians to have? It doesn’t seem like a good idea for any one country to have, let alone one whom we have a sketchy history with. The second is that with aeronautical research comes a flood of new technologies, most of which are very applicable to us down on earth. For example, if it wasn’t for nasa, we wouldn’t have the chips that we use for non-invasive biopsies, solar energy, and a whole litany of other things (http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html#Top has a good number of inventions that most of us don’t know came from our space program). And if you’re one of those ppl that are so skeptical (or cynical imo) that you still don’t think that any of the things on this list warrant a larger investment in a privatized space industry, just remember that while you sleep at night, you most likely have nasa to thank for that, too. If you use any type of home security system, chances are they use infrared and laser technology that came out of nasa’s research (just look at the adt home security infrared camera page. They even admit that the technology came from nasa!)

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