Largely lost among all the hoopla and excitement over SpaceShipTwo’s first powered flight, Virgin Galactic’s educational initiative, Virgin Unite, announced the release lesson plans and resources “pitched” at impressionable students ages 5-18:
Virgin Galactic and Galactic Unite announce the first of their lesson plans and resources!
These aim to engage and inspire educators and students around Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo test flight milestones. You can now download free lesson plans, activities and resources below, which are pitched at students aged 5-18. Teachers can use these to enhance technology and engineering lessons, as well as help develop aerospace career paths for students around the world. We hope this encourages many more fledgling rocket scientists out there to reach for the stars!
The material includes:
Lesson Plan #1: Paper Airplane Designs for Safe Landing
Lesson Plan #2: WhiteKnightTwo
Lesson Plan #3: The Design and Test Flight Milestones of SpaceShipTwo
Lesson Plan #4: Careers in Aerospace
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Test Flight Lesson Plans Student Survey
SpaceShipTwo in its first powered flight over Mojave.
Sparks, NV, April 29, 2013 (SNC PR) – Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems is proud to announce that its Hybrid Rocket Motor propelled Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) sub-orbital vehicle on its first ever powered flight. SNC’s hybrid propulsion system is the largest hybrid ever used for space vehicle propulsion.
SNC manufactures two major subsystems on the SpaceShipTwo vehicle including the main oxidizer valve and the hybrid rocket motor, plus nitrous oxide dump system and nitrous oxide pressurization system control valves.
Sir Richard Branson and daughter, Holly, look through the window of a SpaceShipTwo shell. (Photo credit: Mark Greenberg/Virgin Galactic)
Although Virgin Galactic has promised to eventually lower prices on its suborbital space tourism flights aboard SpaceShipTwo, it looks like prices are actually going up 25 percent in the near term.
In an interview broadcast Monday night on KABC-TV 7 News Los Angeles, Branson said a seat on the suborbital space plane would now cost $250,000 — an increase of $50,000 from the price the company has been advertising for eight years.
Now, does that seem a bit counter-intuitive, wouldn’t it? Absolutely. But, this is actually a clever marketing move. How so? Now, you really didn’t think I’d tell you before the break, did you?
SpaceShipTwo just prior to landing. (Credit: Ken Brown)
MOJAVE, Calif. (Virgin Galactic PR) – Today, Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi’s aabar Investments PJC, completed the first rocket-powered flight of its space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo (SS2). The test, conducted by teams from Scaled Composites (Scaled) and Virgin Galactic, officially marks Virgin Galactic’s entrance into the final phase of vehicle testing prior to commercial service from Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Ah, this is a bit embarrassing. It looks as if I was a bit too hard on the Mojave Air and Space Port.
The airport has set up a viewing area for the public and press who want to see the SpaceShipTwo flight scheduled for Monday morning. If you go in through the main entrance off Business Route 58 (between the Mariah Country Inn and the two aircraft), there is an electronic sign directing you down the road leading to the Virgin Galactic and Stratolaunch facilities.
I’m not entirely sure where the viewing area is located, but it is likely quite a ways from the flight line where most visitors have viewed flights in the past.
So, the airport is accommodating the press and public on its property for the flight, although it has generally failed to communicate that to those specific audiences properly. The only way you would know it is if you had driven through the airport tonight. This is an area that requires improvement for future flights.
Video Caption: In Season 6 Episode 12 of Spacevidcast Live we take a look at all the NewSpace companies located in Mojave and what they are up to! Doug Messier of ParabolicArc.com walks us through that exciting area.
In Space News we have Orbital nominally launching their Antares rocket, SpaceX Grasshopper jumps 250m and lands smoothly and the wraps come off Atlantis!
Don’t forget about the show after the show! Spacevidcast continues with After Dark, a special feature only available to epic subscribers. Starting at $10/mo or $100/yr Spacevidcast Epic offers gigs and gigs of exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else! Help Spacevidcast continue to produce shows and sign up today at http://www.spacevidcast.com/epic
CORRECTION: The airport did set up a viewing area for the public. They just didn’t tell people about it clearly.
The Mojave Air & Space Port’s website has a somewhat cryptic notice on the front page of its website:
Mojave Air & Space Port strives to preserve the privacy of our many clients and their flight research objectives. We work with our clients to post post mission outcomes in a timely manner. While many in the press and non-affiliate blogs are reporting an event in Mojave on Monday 29 April the Mojave Air & Space Port is not sponsoring a public or press related event. We cannot guarantee a date or time to monitor a test because tests occur when three critical items come together: the vehicle is ready, the weather can support and the test and airspace has been allocated.
Video Caption: Andaaz goes to the Mojave Space Port in Southern California to talk with Virgin Galactic. Space tourism is now a reality. Will you choose to go where only few have gone before?
Check out this amazing interview with George T Whitesides, CEO and President of Virgin Galactic, right here on Andaaz!
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