Ever fantasised about being an Astronaut? In the near future space-tourism will launch in earnest, with various companies developing vehicles for sub-orbital flight. Sub-orbital flight is where an object reaches space, but does not achieve a full orbit of the Earth, meaning its trajectory intersects the Earth's atmosphere. So, you hop in, experience all the fun of taking off, reach space and hang in zero gravity for a little while, before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere and coming down (hopefully) safely to land.
Vehicles I will feature here show promise, and they will work in competition to bring down the cost of space-flight to make it more realistic. I will add more information and new profiles as they become available.
No. 1: Spaceship 2- Virgin Galactic (with Scaled Composites)
Purpose: SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry passengers to space.
Maximum Capacity: 8 (2 pilots, 6 passengers)
Launch Type: Mothership (WhiteKnight2)
Launch Altitude: 14000m
Apogee: >110,000m
Top speed: ~4200km/h (Mach 3.5)
Propulsion: Hybrid Rocket Propulsion: Oxidiser tank and solid fuel (CTN)
Ships ordered by Virgin Galactic: 5 (VSS Enterprise and VSS Voyager in development)
Expected completion: There are no deadlines for this ship, but in Jan 2008 it was revealed to be 60% complete.
Spaceport: Spaceport America
Cost of ticket: Founders: (first 100):Deposit - $200,000 the full price of a ticket.
Pioneers: (Next 1000): Deposit - between $100,000 and $175,000
Voyagers: (immediately after Pioneers): Deposit - $20,000
Booking Status: Founders reserved.
After the success of Spaceship One in the Ansari X-prize 2004, Spaceship 2 began development as its evolutionary successor. Follow this link to view a tasty concept video of the Spaceship 2 experience!
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