Archive for the 'space tourism' Category

The Times Profiles Virgin Galactic’s Will Whitehorn

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Doug
on July 20, 2008
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Virgin Galactic’s Will Whitehorn combines industrial research with luxury goods
Martin Waller
The Times of London

“Mr. Whitehorn, who joined Virgin in 1987 as public relations man and then increasingly took on a managerial role, became president of Virgin Galactic in 2004.

The first task was to demonstrate there was a big enough market to justify putting the funds into what was, literally, a blue-sky venture. “We went out and decided to try to sell tickets,” he says. “We thought the easiest place to go first was people who wanted to go into space.”

The second phone call came, improbably, from Ms. [Victoria] Principal, who has since her days on the Dallas set built a large cosmetics business. Within months they had $10 million in deposits from 50 people.”

Stewardess Eats Kitt Katt Bar, Wins Trip to Space

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Doug
on July 17, 2008
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Air hostess picks up chocolate bar, wins space trip
Reuters

“A French air hostess will become one of Europe’s pioneer space tourists after picking a chocolate wrapper out of the rubbish and finding a winning number in a competition to fly to the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere…

“[Mathilde Epron] will receive four days of astronaut training in Oklahoma City in the United States before boarding the Rocketplane XP aircraft which will reach an altitude of 100 km (60 miles) and allow a five-minute experience of weightlessness.”

When precisely that will be is unclear; Rocketplane XP has yet to even conduct a test flight.

Ka-ching! Sweden Looks to Give Large Tax Break to Richard Branson, Space Tourists

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Doug
on July 10, 2008
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In what could be a substantial tax break for Sir Richard Branson and uber-rich space tourists, the Swedish government is close to classifying Virgin Galactic space tourism flights as sounding rockets.

Hyperbola’s Rob Coppinger reports that a government review has concluded there are no barriers to classifying suborbital tourism flights flown out of Spaceport Sweden as sounding rockets. Officials are hoping the Ministry of Commerce will approve the idea.

This move would be financially advantageous for both Virgin Galactic and its wealthy clientele.  Space News reported earlier this year that Swedish officials were looking to put the flights into the same category as hot air balloon rides and sounding rockets because the value added tax (VAT) on these activities is lower. Otherwise, Sweden’s higher value-added taxes would kick in, adding as much as 25 percent to the $200,000 ticket.

The move would not require any changes in Swedish law, easing the way for Branson’s company to begin tourism flights from Kiruna early in the next decade. Coppinger reports that the Swedish government, which faces elections within two years, might have a difficult time getting new laws passed before the vote. The next government might not be as amenable to providing a lower tax rate for joyriding millionaires.

Virgin Galactic Signs Social Networking Deal

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Doug
on July 6, 2008
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Virgin Galactic has become the latest company to embrace social networking, signing a deal with introNetworks. The Santa Barbara, Calif.-based company will build a system to connect customers who have signed up suborbital flights aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo vehicle.

“Since our inception five years ago, we’ve created smart social networks for companies of varying sizes and personalities, but always within the confines of our planet,” introNetworks CEO Mark Sylvester said in a press release. “By working with the visionaries at Virgin Galactic we have the opportunity to use our technology and creativity to help connect individuals who share a passion to boldly go where only a handful of individuals have gone before.”

The system is set to be launched later this month, corresponding with the July 28 roll out of the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft in Mojave, Calif.

“As a company that has always looked beyond what’s attainable today, we look for partners that share our vision and introNetworks definitely fits that mold,” said David Clark, Virgin Galactic’s Astronaut Relations guru. “We’re looking forward to working with introNetworks to provide our future astronauts with a private and secure network around which they can build a very special community.”

Parabolas: Virgin Assembles, PlanetSpace Tries Again, Engineers Ready Angara Test

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Doug
on July 1, 2008
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Virgin Galactic has released a series of photos showing its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft being assembled in Mojave, Calif. The photo above shows the vehicle’s main fuselage. Rollout is set for July 28.

Alan Boyle of Cosmic Log takes a look at efforts by PlanetSpace to get its spaceplane to make the giant leap from PowerPoint slides to suborbital space. One positive sign: the American-Canadian venture is partnering with U.S. aerospace/defense giants Lockheed Martin and ATK.

Boyle also provides updates on SpaceX, Spacehab, Blue Origin and other commercial rocket companies.

In other news, Russian engineers are preparing to test a rocket engine for its new Angara rocket, Flight Global reports:

“Cold flow tests of a rocket engine for the Khrunichev space centre’s new Angara booster are to take place on 15 July in preparation for hot firings later this year….

Angara is a family of rockets that uses a common core booster design. It has been considered for the European Space Agency, FSA crew space transport system spacecraft.”

Happy Birthday, Suborbital Tourism: Now, Will Ya Go Fly Some Actual Tourists Already?

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Doug
on June 28, 2008
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Alan Boyle helps the space tourism industry celebrate its fourth “birthday” with a piece over at MSNBC. Or, more accurately, he marks the anniversary of Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites ushering in the “age of privately developed spaceflight” with the first suborbital flight of SpaceShipOne.

Boyle reviews the progress since that date, noting the only predictable thing is the industry’s unpredictability. Virgin Galactic’s first suborbital tourist flight is still about two years away, which is more or less where it was back in June 2004.

For his part, Rutan professes to have been so caught up building SpaceShipTwo that he plum forgot about the whole anniversary thing until Boyle reminded him. This folksy “ahh shucks” response may be designed to minimize the four years that have passed since that historic flight. Or things are so far behind schedule that he genuinely did forget.

Whatever the case, the legendary designer is not as active as he once was in Scaled Composites, which is now fully owned by defense colossus Northrop Grumman. Rutan, who is still recovering from open heart surgery in February, stepped down as the company’s president earlier this month. Sources who have seen him give speeches in recent months report that he has a tendency to meander off topic into tangents, a sign of how much the surgery has affected him.

Meanwhile, Space.com’s Tariq Malik looks at a couple of upcoming space tourism events: Virgin Galactic’s scheduled July 28 rollout of its WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, which will haul SpaceShipTwo aloft; and Space Adventures’ October launch of publicity shy Richard Garriott, who will be the latest billionaire to use the taxpayer-funded International Space Station as an orbiting hotel.

Parabolas: In Space, No One Can Hear You Beg; the Russians are Going (and so is Garriott)

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Doug
on June 28, 2008
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Weaver Makes Bid for Space Travel
PR-Insider.com

Actress Sigourney Weaver is begging Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson to let her be next celebrity to venture into space.

Weaver says, “I’d love to go (to space). Sure, if I had the opportunity. I read somewhere that I was going… I apparently was on the passenger list. I was apparently on the invitation (from Branson).”

Six Russians to Take First Virgin Galactic Space Ride in 2010
RIA Novosti

Six Russians are to be the initial clients of the world’s first space travel agency, Virgin Galactic, which is to launch suborbital passenger flights in 2010.

Igor Kutsenko, who runs an advertising firm in Moscow, told a Virgin Galactic news conference in the Russian capital that he and his business partner, Sergei Tyaglov, had bought tickets 18 months ago, and that he had also reserved tickets for his parents, both in their fifties.

Options for Space Tourists
Andrei Kislyakov
RIA Novosti

What we have here is a typically Russian paradox: although this country was the first to try out space tourism, it has failed to develop it further, letting other countries reap the fruits of this endeavor.

Furthermore, the ways in which Roskosmos (Russian Federal Space Agency) has been trying to branch out into tourism has no benefits for our national space program.

Way Later than 2001, Space Odysseys are Under Way
Helen Anders
American Statesman

“I grew up assuming all of us would go into space,” [Richard] Garriott says. Then he found out he had poor eyesight. Too bad, the family doctor told the youngster; you can’t be an astronaut.

“That’s when I realized,” Garriott says, “if I’m going it will have to be outside NASA.”

Say Goodbye to Space Tourists: Only Billionaire “Explorers” Need Apply

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Doug
on June 16, 2008
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Space Adventures, a company that has made millions selling orbital joyrides to people worth billions, is trying to ensure that its wealthy clients get a bit more respect.

The Virginia company that pioneered space tourism is rebranding its elite clientele as “space explorers,” pointing to the experiments that they conduct while vacationing aboard the International Space Station. In the process, the company is trying to leave its label as a “space tourism” outfit behind.

“Space tourism isn’t the right word for what we do,” Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson told Popular Mechanics. “It’s something more. What we’re doing is opening a new frontier. … We’re no longer exclusively a space tourism company, we’re a space mission company.”

Space Adventures kicked off its rebranding effort in earnest last week with the announcement that it would begin charting Soyuz flights to ISS beginning in 2011. The company currently flies tourists as the third passenger on regularly scheduled, government financed missions to the orbital outpost. The charter flights would be commercially funded, carrying a commander and two paying customers.

Google Founder Sergey Brin will likely be aboard the inaugural 2011 flight. He invested $5 million in Space Adventures, money that serves as a downpayment on a flight and makes him the charter member of the brand new Orbital Mission Explorer’s Circle. This exclusive club will have only seven members.

The rebranding effort has been ongoing for some time. Space Adventures’ client Anousheh Ansari, who flew to the space station, gave an interview to Space Future back in April in which she bristled at the label of “space tourist.” Ansari believes the six months of training made her more than just a tourist, even though she is not a professional astronaut.

Shuttle Update: Discovery Safe to Return Home

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Doug
on June 13, 2008
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NASA Eases Concerns Over Shuttle Objects
Associated Press

“Mission Control reassured commander Mark Kelly and his crew on Friday that their spaceship was safe for coming home, and that the missing clip — one of three that hold down thermal blankets on the rudder and speed brake — would not impact anything.

“A protrusion in the same area at the tail, which was reported by the astronauts around the same time, also was found to be harmless. The angle of the lighting and the rudder’s position made the so-called bump look strange when, in fact, it was exactly how it looked at liftoff, Mission Control said.”

AP: Private ISS Flight Still Requires Consultations, Approvals from Partners

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Doug
on June 12, 2008
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Space Adventure’s plan to fund a private Soyuz tourism flight to the International Space Station still requires consultation with and approval by the United States and other station partners, the Associated Press reports.

“NASA space station manager Kenny Todd said that consultation hasn’t taken place. He said that since NASA is a primary partner in the space station, ‘it certainly wants to have an understanding of how that’s going to happen and what all would be involved’ in the private flight.”

Top among the concerns: that Russia will not be overburdened building Soyuz spacecraft required to transport crews to the orbiting outpost. After two recent hair-raising re-entries, this is not a trivial concern.

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