Space travel

Up We Go: Space Adventures For the Risk Tolerant Explorer

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wings

Many of us still view space travel as a Star Wars idea, something beyond reality, or at least the reality we know and are comfortable with. To many, the wild blue yonder is something to admire, not to fly into, much less OUT of. But there are some whose exploration interests take them really above and beyond, defining the ultimate form of risk tolerance, the result of a deeper form of human curiosity. Space Adventures enlivens and quenches that curiosity, as it is a company that arranges space flights for private citizens. And as of this year, 2010,it is the only company that has arranged space flights for self-funded individuals. At present, seven customers have flown a total of three months in space, and have traveled 36 million miles. But it is NOT cheap! Flights to the ISS (International Space Station) are approximately $40M. A mind-boggling amount. Yet, there are other adventures and experiences that cost less. Read on!

Tags: commercial space flight, commercial space travel, commercial spaceflight, Cosmonaut Training, EVA Training, Soyuz-TMA, Space Adventures, Space Flights, Space travel, Spacewalks, Zero-G Gravity Flights

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Virgin Galactic Completes Successful Maiden Voyage

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

Public space travel took another leap forward last week when Virgin Galactic made its maiden voyage in the skies over the Mojave Desert in California. The test flight consisted of carrier plane WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) taking flight for the first time while carrying SpaceShipTwo (SS2), the vessel that will eventually be the one to take passengers out to space. The plan is for WK2 to carry SS2 up to a high altitude before dropping it, at which point the hybrid rocket motor will fire and SS2 will carry passengers the rest of the way out to space on its own.

During this first test flight WK2 flew with SS2 for about 3 hours, without incident or hiccup. There are many more test flights to be completed (test hops, drop flights, and actual trips to space) before passengers will be allowed to take tourism flights out of Spaceport America in New Mexico. The project is running longer and is costing more than originally anticipated, but the hope is that SS2 will undergo its first powered test by the end of this year and that the project could be opened to passengers as soon as late 2011 or early 2012.

Via Dvice

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Tags: space, space flight, space tourism, space travel, SpaceFlight, spaceshiptwo, SpaceTourism, SpaceTravel, virgin galactic, VirginGalactic

Virgin Galactic Unveils Spaceshiptwo

by Carrie N. Culpepper (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

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."

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

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Space Hotel To Open In 2012

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Will space tourism stays be possible in just a couple of years? A Spanish company has said that their Galactic Suite Space Resort orbiting hotel will open in 2012. The company is offering a three-night stay for €3 million. It sounds exorbitant but that price does include an eight-week training course on a tropical island and the travel on a rocket to reach the hotel which will float 280 miles above the earth. The company says that they already have 43 reservations.

The Independent reports that "an anonymous billionaire space enthusiast" has given the company more than €2 billion to finance the hotel. The hotel will rotate the earth 15 times per day offering a trip around the world in just 80 minutes. The modular space habitat willl be built around a central docking platform. Each pod has a window at the base and tourists will be experiencing weightlessness during their stay.

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Tags: galactic suite, GalacticSuite, space hotel, space tourism, space travel, SpaceHotel, SpaceTourism, SpaceTravel

Virgin Galactic Reveals Spaceship Designs

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

Sir Richard Branson is so excited about the design for the Virgin Galactic spaceship designs he's willing to wear them. Yesterday, Branson recently showed off the design of Virgin Galactic's new space launch system based on the X Prize-winning technology of SpaceShipOne. The White Knight Two carrier aircraft is being built at Scaled Composites in the Mojave Desert and should begin flight testing this summer. The mothership is the world's largest, all carbon composite aircraft and is powered by four Pratt and Whitney PW308A engines to launch SpaceShipTwo and its eight astronauts into sub-orbital space flight. SpaceShipTwo is now 60% complete. It's good news for those eager for space travel, already 80 of SpaceShipTwo's first passengers have gone through medical assessment and preliminary training. Thousands more have indicated their eagerness to board experience space flight once Virgin Galactic is operational.

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Tags: sir richard branson, SirRichardBranson, space tourism, space travel, spaceshiptwo, virgin galactic

Plans For Spaceport America Revealed

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

We first heard about the plans for Virgin Galactic and Spaceport America back in December 2005. The home base for space travel promises to bring space tourism to the New Mexico desert. Now the team of US and British architects and designers working on the project have released design renderings of Spaceport America. The design is from a US-British consortium of URS Corporation and Foster + Partners and shows a low-slung design which is tucked into the earth and uses passive energy for heating and cooling with photovoltaic panels for electricity and water recycling. Massive windows open out to the runway. People enter through a deep channel cut in the landscape. The terminal and hanger are expected to cost around $31 million and construction will begin in 2008 with late 2009 or early 2010 projected as a completion date. Big pics of the design drawings in the gallery.

[via Aero-News Network]

Gallery: Spaceport America