spaceflight

Virgin Galactic Completes Successful Maiden Voyage

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

XCOR Aerospace Offers Space Flight At A Discount

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

The first entrant into any marketplace has the benefit of being able to set the price for the service and those that follow often need to offer a lower price. That's the case in the space tourism game, now that XCOR Aerospace is offering tickets for suborbital rides at less than half the price of main competitor Virgin Galactic. XCOR Aerospace is partnering with tour developer and operator Jules Klar, co-creator of the 1960s-era "Europe on $5 a Day" guides, to sell rides aboard its Lynx spaceship for $95,000. The two-seat Lynx craft is under development at XCOR's Mojave Desert base. Lynx passengers fly in the cockpit next to Richard Searfoss, who made three spaceflights for NASA. The company plans to be able to make up to four flights a day. Test flights are set to begin in 2010 with first paid flights as soon as early 2011.

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Tags: space flight, space tourism, SpaceFlight, SpaceTourism, xcor aerospace, xcor lynx, XcorAerospace, XcorLynx

Send Your Stuff Into Space

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

If you don't have the cash or the sea legs for your own space tourism flight there is another option, you can send your stuff into space. ZG Aerospace will send your things into space, give them a few brief minutes of weightlessness and bring them back safe and sound. Their nearly 20-foot tall rocket will give a ride to business cards ($49.95 each), titanium rings ($249.95) or anything you can shove into a one inch square box ($995.95). Their maiden flight is set to take off in July so get your order in now.

[via Aero-News Network]

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Tags: aerospace, rocket, rocket ship, space, spaceflight