Rob Coppinger takes a look at developments in human spaceflight over at his Hyperbola blog, including:
- Virgin Galactic’s plan to roll out its White Knight carrier aircraft in about two months’ time;
- EADS-Astrium’s proposal for an ATV-derived capsule, with photos of a mockup unveiled at the Berlin Air Show (the BBC also has a story);
- a six-person capsule being jointly studied by Europe and Russia for possible launch on the Zenit;
- Mitsubuishi Heavy Industries‘ reusable space plane roadmap;
- a proposal for ESA to assist European companies in developing space tourism.
In related news, Virgin Galactic and the National Space Society have announced a new Space Ambassadors program. The program will train people to go forth and spread the word about the great benefits of space exploration, NSS and Virgin Galactic in their communities. One lucky ambassador will get to fly into space aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. Virgin and NSS have not decided how the winner will be chosen.
Rob Coppinger has posted detailed notes of his January 24 conversation with Virgin Galactic commercial director Stephen Attenborough over at his Hyperbola blog on Flight Global. These notes are in addition to an article that Coppinger wrote examining the company’s business plan and SpaceShipTwo’s rising costs (now estimated at nearly $250 million).
Attenborough had some interesting things to say:
- The company plans to roll the White Knight 2 carrier aircraft out of the factory in May;
- Virgin gained 25 new customers in a one-month period from December to January;
- An American has booked an entire flight as a charter (6 passengers);
- Many of the space tourists are in their 40’s and 50’s and were inspired by the Apollo program;
- Six customers have asked for refunds, two for health reasons and the rest due to “changing circumstances.”
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…..
