Tag: virgin galactic

Virgin Galactic Announces 600th Ticketholder for SpaceShipTwo

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Virgin Galactic Founder Richard Branson with Marsha Waters, the 600th ticketholder on SpaceShipTwo. (Credit: The Virgin Group)

Virgin Galactic Founder Richard Branson with Marsha Waters, the 600th ticketholder on SpaceShipTwo. (Credit: The Virgin Group)

LONDON (VIRGIN GALACTIC PR) – Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group and Virgin Galactic, announced Monday, June 17, that the company’s 600th Future Astronaut is Marsha Waters, the owner of an accounting services company based in Blackpool, United Kingdom. Waters, 42, embodies the next generation of women in space: private individuals who are passionate about experiencing space travel for themselves.

Waters first took an interest in Virgin Galactic in 2010 and has been following its progress ever since.

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Report: Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis Among Couples Awaiting Flights Aboard SpaceShipTwo

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Mila Kunis (© Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com

Mila Kunis (© Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com

Rupert “I know NOTH-THING!” Murdoch’s always entertaining and occasionally reliable British tabloid, The Sun, reports the latest celebritynaut rumor: Ashton Kutcher and main squeeze Mila Kunis will honeymoon aboard Sir Richard Branson’s SpaceShipTwo next year after getting married this September, probably on a beach in St Tropez.

All this according to an anonymous pal of the Hollywood power couple:

A pal of the pair said: “They decided together they want their big day in September, probably on one of St Tropez’s beaches.

“Ashton is already going into space on Branson’s Virgin Galactic flight and he has said Mila will definitely be at his side as his honeymoon present.”

The pair agreed they want to get hitched as soon as possible while sunning themselves in St Tropez with new pals Princess Beatrice and her boyfriend Dave Clark. Ashton won’t have to pull many strings to get Mila on to the space voyage.

Dave is head of “astronaut relations” for the Virgin Galactic programme — and he got friendly with Ashton when the actor snapped up the 500th ticket for the first flights.

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Virgin Galactic Promotional Video

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Video Caption: The latest version of Virgin Galactic’s ‘Your Journey To Space Starts Here’ – June 2013

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WhiteKnightTwo Flying Over Mojave Frequently

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WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo take off from Mojave Air and Space Port. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)

WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo take off from Mojave Air and Space Port. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)

WhiteKnightTwo Flight Test Summaries
Via Scaled Composites

Flight: 126
Date: 06 Jun 13
Flight Time: 1.4 hr
WK2 Pilot: Sturckow WK2 CoPilot: Stucky WK2 FTE: Penney

Objectives:
Virgin Galactic WK2 Experimental Authorization checkride

Results:
Objective achieved. Congratulations to CJ Sturckow!


Flight: 125
Date: 06 Jun 13
Flight Time: 2.3 hr
WK2 Pilot: Masucci WK2 CoPilot: Stucky WK2 FTE: Penney

Objectives:
Virgin Galactic WK2 Experimental Authorization checkride

Results:
Objective achieved. Congratulations to Mike Masucci!


Flight: 124
Date: 04 Jun 13
Flight Time: 2.1 hr
WK2 Pilot: Sturckow WK2 CoPilot: Stucky WK2 FTE: Flynn

Objectives:
VG pilot training

Results:
Objective achieved.


Flight: 123
Date: 31 May 13
Flight Time: 1.7 hr
WK2 Pilot: Mackay WK2 CoPilot: Stucky WK2 FTE: Glaser

Objectives:
VG pilot proficiency

Results:
Objective achieved.


Flight: 122
Date: 30 May 13
Flight Time: 2.8 hr
WK2 Pilot: Stucky WK2 CoPilot: Masucci WK2 FTE: Bassett

Objectives:
VG pilot training

Results:
Objective achieved.

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NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program Selects 21 Additional Space Technology Payloads

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NASA LOGOWASHINGTON (NASA PR)– NASA has selected 21 space technology payloads for flights on commercial reusable launch vehicles, balloons, and a commercial parabolic aircraft.

This latest selection represents the sixth cycle of NASA’s continuing call for payloads through an announcement of opportunity. More than 100 technologies with test flights now have been facilitated through NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Flight Opportunities Program.

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Justin Bieber Signs Up for Virgin Galactic Flight

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Yes, the Bieb is going to space. Justin Bieber, celebritynaut!

Bill Nelson Hails Commercial Suborbital Space Research

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Florida Senator Bill Nelson

Florida Senator Bill Nelson

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sen. Bill Nelson PR) - Not just tourism, but university classes in space are right around the corner.  That’s what came to light in testimony today at a U.S. Senate hearing on the looming commercial uses of space.

In fact, at least one well-known American university already has made a down payment on a Virgin Galactic flight.  That’s the company that just two weeks ago launched SpaceShip Two and completed its first rocket-powered flight.

“Purdue has a down payment on a spot on a Virgin Galactic science flight,” Dr. Steven Collicott testified at Thursday’s Senate hearing.  “ … And I do look forward to the day a potential Ph.D. student walks into my office and says, “Well, professor, I flew into space for my Master’s degree.  What do you have to offer?”

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Morning NSRC 2013 Highlights

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NSRC2013logoNEWSome morning highlights of the first day of the Next-generation Suborbital Researchers Conference 2013 here in Broomfield, Colo.:

  • Addressing the group via video, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said NASA is not excluding the possibility that the Flight Opportunities program would fund human researchers on suborbital fights. Previously, NASA had said it would purchase flights for payloads but not for researchers to fly.
  • Garver provided no details on precisely what safety standards the space agency would require prior to paying for researchers to fly.
  • NASA has spent $29.5 million on the Flight Opportunities program over the past three years, and it has requested an additional $15 million for FY2014. In 2010, Garver addressed the first NSRC and said NASA would seek $15 million per year over 5 years, but the agency has not received all the funding it requested.
  • The deputy administrator also announced plans for a joint solicitation for science and tech payloads to be issued by NASA’s Science and Space Tech directorates. The solicitation is expected to be pushed in late summer or early fall.
  • XCOR Chief Operating Officer Andrew Nelson said that while satellites have been removed from the U.S. Munitions List in draft regulations, crew spacecraft have been added to it. Calling the decision a major step backward, Nelson urged urged audience members to oppose this move during the on-going public comments period.
  • Virgin Galactic Vice President for Special Projects Will Pomerantz said the company has taken reservations for nearly 600 people worldwide for flights aboard the company’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicles.
  • Pomerantz added that NanoRacks has delivered the first payload racks for flying experiments aboard the space plane.

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Leonardo DiCaprio’s SpaceShipTwo Flight Raises $3.8 Million for AIDS Research

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IMG_9541_550
Vasily Klyukin, a 37-year-old Russian real estate mogul who lives in Monaco, will spend $1.5 million to take a flight into space alongside “Titanic” star Leonardo DiCaprio aboard Sir Richard Branson’s SpaceShipTwo.

“I want to be a bit daring,” Klyukin told Reuters. “I will have to give up smoking now for sure!”

Klyukin won the trip at the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS charity dinner during the Cannes Film Festival. Two more seats on the same flight were auctioned off for an additional $2.3 million.

Seats on Virgin Galactic flights now cost $250,000 apiece.

Engine Testing Continues in Mojave

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Welcome_to_mojave_north_low

Some interesting activity today in Mojave:

  • WhiteKnightTwo was out flying around solo this morning without SpaceShipTwo.
  • Scaled Composites has a RocketMotorTwo engine out on the test stand along with the mobile nitrous oxide tanker. No word yet on whether they tested earlier today or are still setting up for a hot fire later on.

I’ll update this page if hear anything more.