Space Tourism … and Much More
Reports out of Mojave, Calif. indicate that famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan is looking to retire from the company he founded, Scaled Composites, and move away from the desert town where he designed and built groundbreaking aircraft and spacecraft for 36 years.
Continue reading ‘Burt Rutan May Be Retiring and Leaving Mojave’
SCALED COMPOSITES TEST LOG
Test: SS2 Taxi 01
Date: 14 Jun 10
Time: 3 hr on runway
Crew (runs 01-04): Siebold / Nichols
Crew (runs 05): Stucky / Nichols
Results:
Monday was a great milestone for the team. We performed five tests from 25 to 60 mph with two different pilots. All objectives were achieved. They were: condition the brakes and evaluate the landing gear/brake steering/skid shoe performance and general ground handling. The vehicle performed as expected and we’re excited to move into the manned phase of the test program.
* Shout out to Clark Lindsey over at Hobby Space for finding this new log.
Atlanta Philanthropist Reaches For Stars As Citizen-Astronaut
WXIA-TV
Since his sold “Barton Protective Services” six years ago, Charles Barton Rice has spent his time and fortune on philanthropy. “My mother…my father…they were always giving” he said. “And that’s where I get it.”
His big project is to transform his hometown, Blakely, Georgia into a twenty first century tech center. That’s for the long term. For the short term he has set his sights a bit higher.
Sir Richard Branson (L) and Burt Rutan pose for a photo in front of the SpaceShip2 resting under the Mothership WhiteKnight2 inside a hangar in Mojave,Calif.
Virgin Galactic Commercial Director Stephen Attenborough gave an update on his company’s progress today at the Next Generational Suborbital Researchers Conference in Boulder.
I wasn’t able to attend, but Jeff Foust (@jeff_foust) posted updates on Twitter. Here are the key points:
NASA’s Wayne Hale also Tweeted that development costs are now at $300 million.
Artist's conception of WhiteKnight2/SpaceShipTwo in flight (credit: Virgin Galactic)
Richard Branson invites Brian Souter on space flight
Perthshire Advertiser
He’s invested in planes, trains, automobiles and buses but high-flying Stagecoach pioneer Brian Souter has decided space travel is a step too far.
Continue reading ‘Scottish Bus Mogul Turns Down Richard Branson’s Space Tourism Invitation’
Space tourism to take off in Kiruna
The Local
If all goes to plan, billionaire Richard Branson’s spaceships will take off with tourists on board in 2012 – from Kiruna in the far north of Sweden.
Continue reading ‘Kiruna Set to Become Space Tourism Hub’
The WhiteKnightTwo rolls out with SpaceShipTwo. (Photo Credit: Sam Coniglio)
CSA PRESS RELEASE
Dramatic skies, sensational lighting and stirring music formed the back drop this evening from which designer Burt Rutan and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson revealed SpaceShipTwo in a theatrical extravaganza befitting the suspense that has surrounded this completely commercial space-faring system.
Cradled under the wing of its mother airship, the WhiteKnightTwo, SpaceShipTwo stood proudly on the tarmac and shone as a testament to California’s innovation and manufacturing prowess.
Continue reading ‘CSA: SpaceShipTwo Shows Power of California Innovation’
Photo Credit: Sam Coniglio
PRESS RELEASE
Virgin Galactic announced 18 new Virtuoso® travel advisors as ‘Accredited Space Agents’ (ASAs), including Ezana Araya of Andavo Travel, Inc with offices in Denver, Colo., San Francisco, Calif., and Salt Lake City, Utah.
Continue reading ‘Andavo Travel Now Selling Space Tourism Rides on Virgin Galactic’
Supervisors hear details of harrowing tent collapse
Bakersfield.com
As the dignitary-filled buses rolled away from the event, the wind did what Witt had worried it would. At 7:36 p.m. the wind peeled the tent like an orange and sent the steel structure crashing onto the inflatable buildings next to it.
Continue reading ‘Officials: Quick Action Avoid Loss of Life at Virgin Galactic Party’
An artist's conception of a Virgin Galactic flight above Spaceport America in New Mexico
Spaceport officials seek way to reduce liability
Las Cruces Sun-News
New Mexico spaceport officials said Wednesday they’ll again seek legislation that would effectively reduce legal liability for companies that launch from Spaceport America.
Continue reading ‘NM Officials Seek Liability Waiver to Protect Space Tourism Operators’
Artists conception of WhiteKnightTwo and the SpaceShipTwo space tourism vehicle. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)
Virgin Galactic Poised to Unveil Suborbital Space Liner
Space.com
All is in readiness for next Monday’s unveiling of SpaceShipTwo – the first-class space tourist’s wonder machine at the core of the space tourism firm Virgin Galactic’s suborbital fleet.
Continue reading ‘Virgin Galactic to Unveil SpaceShipTwo on Monday’
MP ‘mystified’ by comments about UK space flights
The Press and Journal
Moray MP Angus Robertson last night said he was “mystified” by Virgin Galactic’s claims that British laws must be changed before Moray can be considered as Europe’s international space station base.
The company plans to offer space tourism flights to the paying public within five years and Lossiemouth’s RAF base is their first UK choice as a spaceport.
Virgin Galactic’s president Will Whitehorn this weekend warned Britain “has no legislation to allow us to fly here – there is no regulatory authority”.
He confirmed locations in Sweden were also being considered as bases for Virgin’s European operations.
Read the full story.
Spaceport America
When the last Apollo spacecraft lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 1975, the crew included two-time Apollo veteran and moon walker Tom Stafford and two rookies: Deke Slayton and Vance Brand. Slayton, a Mercury astronaut grounded due to a heart problem, had waited 16 years for his flight. Brand had been selected for the Apollo program nine years before blasting off for a rendezvous with a Soviet spacecraft.
For Slayton and Stafford, the nine-day Apollo-Soyuz Test Project would be their final missions into space. Brand stayed with NASA, determined to fly again on the space shuttle the agency originally hoped to fly by 1978. He would have a long wait. The space shuttle wouldn’t fly for another six years. It was not until Nov. 11, 1982 that Brand would return to space as commander of Columbia’s fifth mission.
Well, it’s deja vu all over again. NASA is facing another long gap in flights after the space shuttle retires next year. Meanwhile, the emerging private sector is in the midst of a long drought on suborbital flights.
Continue reading ‘Like NASA, Private Space Sector Has Long Gaps in Flights’
UAE to have space port
AFP
Tourists will be able to journey to outer space via Abu Dhabi as part of a deal by a local investment group to take a stake in the world’s first commercial space travel operator, the two companies said yesterday.
Continue reading ‘Abu Dhabi to Get Spaceport as Part of Virgin Galactic Investment Deal’
Video: Spaceport America Update
An update on Spaceport America from July. Similar Posts: NASA Announces Discovery of Water on the Moon Scientists Find Evidence of Water on the Moon India Celebrates Role in Lunar Water Discovery Space: There Will Be Blood Edition Paragon Plans to Send Greenhouse to the Moon Share:
Copenhagen Suborbitals Launch Fizzles; Next Attempt Delayed Until June
The Copenhagen Post reports that a hairdryer that cost less than 100 krone ($17.29) was responsible for the failure of the Heat-1X/Tycho-Brahe rocket to lift off on Sunday. Rocket builders Peter Madsen and Kristian von Bengtson positioned the hairdryer to keep a liquid oxygen valve from freezing. However, “due to some necessary last minute alternations, [...]
New Mexico Spaceport Authority Seeks Deputy Director
NMSA PRESS RELEASE The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) is accepting applications for a Deputy Director to oversee the daily operations of Spaceport America, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport. This position announcement marks another significant milestone as the historic project transitions from a construction site to an operating spaceport. The Deputy Director will be [...]