NASTAR PRESS RELEASE VIA PRNEWSWIRE
SOUTHAMPTON, Pa., Feb. 20 — Environmental Tectonics Corporation’s National Aerospace Training and Research (NASTAR) Center recently hosted 50 Accredited Space Agents (ASAs) from 14 countries a two-day Forum designed to update them on the Virgin Galactic project and to give them in-depth knowledge of the new NASTAR Center Air and Space Adventure Programs designed to be a “try before you buy” for prospective Space Travelers on board Virgin Galactic’s suborbital space flights.
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Dennis Quaid, the actor who portrayed astronaut L. Gordon “Gordo” Cooper in The Right Stuff, may get a chance to fly into space for real.
PR-insider.com reports that the actor, who is qualified jet pilot, is interested in flying aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. Tourists will pay about $200,000 for the suborbital flights. Celebrities such as Victoria Principal have already signed up.
Jeff Foust takes a look at how Virgin Galactic and other commercial space companies are screening and training tourists for upcoming suborbital space flights. The companies must screen potential tourists for physical ailments and put them through centrifuge training. The story features NASTAR Center, a testing and training facility located in Pennsylvania that has been used by Virgin Galactic.
Live Science’s Dave Brody looks at the similarities between Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and White Knight suborbital tourism system and previous Russian proposal for a similar vehicle. He finds some eerie similarities…..
The Economist examines the physical requirements with space tourists with a look at NASTAR, a Pennsylvania firm that provides centrifuge training for Virgin Galactic customers and several ISS tourists. NASTAR’s Glenn King believes that, based on the company’s testing, more people could handle the rigors of suborbital flight than previously believed.
“NASTAR reckons that more than 90% of the population could handle a sub-orbital flight. Nor does Mr King see any reason why children as young as five or six could not go too.”
The first flight of SpaceShipTwo will be a family affair: Sir Richard Branson plans to take his 92-year-old father Ted and his 89-year-old mother Eve on the flight with him on the suborbital tourism jaunt.
Branson also will take his two children, Holly and Sam, on the inaugural flight, which is expected to take place in about 18 months. Also scheduled for the first flight: British Princess Beatrice, who is dating Virgin Galactic’s director of astronaut relations, Dave Clark.
There could be some hard times ahead for space tourism entrepreneurs, according to experts at a recent symposium in Boston sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The experts - who included former astronaut Kathy Sullivan, Roald Sagdeev of the University of Maryland-College Park, and Buzz Aldrin’s son Alvin - questioned whether there are enough potential tourists to support the industry. Companies could hit a ceiling where high costs and a small market will prevent it from growing any larger.
The Boston Globe has an interesting interview with Rosanna Sattler, the new chairwoman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Space Enteprise Council. Sattler, who heads the space law practice at the Boston firm Posternak Blankstein & Lund, discusses the complexities of the legal regime for space, including space diving and Virgin Galactic’s suborbital tourism plans.
Taylor Dinerman has an interesting op-ed over at The Space Review about Virgin Galactic’s efforts to sell themselves as a green company. Dinerman believes this is more marketing hype than reality at the moment, but that the long-term exploitation of space resources will be the key to solving many of Earth’s environmental problems and lifting billions out of poverty.
Scaled Composites could still face a criminal or civil prosecution over the fatal explosion at its Mojave, Calif. facility that killed three workers and injured three others, according to a Flight Global story.
California safety officials levied citations and fines totally $28,000. The company has appealed the decision, a process which Flight Global reports could take up to a year. The appeal process would not affect any civil or criminal prosecutions that authorities might decide to launch.
