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With his announcement that the first Virgin Galactic flight will launch on Christmas Day, Richard Branson is one step closer to bringing space travel to the masses. Well, the well-heeled masses, at least. At $263,000 a pop, the general public will just have to wait.
So, what does that $263,000 buy? Two and a half hours flight time in an eight-seater shuttle, reaching heights of 110km above sea level at the very edge of ‘space’, and four whole minutes of weightlessness in zero gravity. Alternatively, it could buy a two bedroom apartment in the suburbs of Sydney.
The project was officially announced in 2004, with Branson saying, “We hope to create thousands of astronauts over the next few years and bring alive their dream of seeing the majestic beauty of our planet from above, the stars in all their glory and the amazing sensation of weightlessness.”
Which sounds very noble, however, there are two issues that arise from this. The first being, ticketholders will not be ‘astronauts’. They will fly in a regular jet (not even a rocket), to the very edge of what can be called space, and spend four minutes in zero gravity. Then they come home again.
There is also the fact that while Branson says he is doing this to bring people’s dreams to life, he will also be tapping into an industry that is expected to be worth $1.67 billion by 2020. If all goes to plan, he stands to become richer than Midas – if he isn’t already.
The Big List
Despite deadlines being continuously pushed back over the years, and a fatal explosion in 2007 delaying development of the rocket engine, there are now more than 600 people signed up to fly on Virgin Galactic.
The celebrity list includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Ashton Kutcher, Angeline Jolie, Brad Pitt and Stephen Hawking. There will also be Leo’s apparent stalker – who paid $1.2 million in a charity auction to purchase the seat next to him – and most recently announced, Justin Bieber.
Bieber’s announcement has met mixed reactions. While millions of Beliebers shed glitter-streaked tears, worrying that their hero might never make it back, his neighbours – sick of his loud parties and erratic driving – pray that he won’t. There is even a petition asking Branson to leave Bieber in space, with 1900 signatures as of June 14.
The Flight Plan
Fewer than 540 people have entered space since Yuri Gagarin first headed up there in 1961, and just eight have been civilians. With Virgin Galactic and a few other “spacelines” set to open up space to the masses, this number is set to grow, rapidly.
Ticketholders on Virgin Galactic will fly out of New Mexico’s Spaceport America aboard SpaceShip Two, a passenger craft attached to the White Knight Two transporter. White Knight Two will lift off from a normal runway, climbing at subsonic speeds to 50,000 feet.
SpaceShip Two will then detach itself (while White Knight Two returns to earth to pick up its next set of passengers), and fire its own boosters to reach its top altitude of 110km above sea level, where it will coast along the edge of space, before returning to earth.
The Future of “Space Tourism”
While these trips will no doubt provide an unforgettable experience – albeit for the obscenely rich – the future of space tourism could be more functional than fantasy-fulfilling. Instead of sightseeing trips into space, this technology could be used to provide commercial transcontinental flights.
As time goes on, costs for these flights should come down – as they do with most types of technological advances, and just as they did with the original commercial flights. Fancy a trip from Sydney to London in as little as four hours? You got it! As long as you’ve got a spare $20,000 to cover it.
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