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Mullin
Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 20062
Location: Ivybridge
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 2:09 pm Post subject: Virgin Boss In Space Tourism Bid!! |
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Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has signed a £14m agreement which will see his company take passengers into space.
The British entrepreneur is having five "spaceliners" built in the US by the team behind the SpaceShipOne vehicle.
The California-based rocket plane became the first privately developed carrier to go above 100km in June.
Sir Richard says it will cost around £100,000 to go on a "Virgin Galactic" spaceliner, and the first flights should begin in about three years' time.
Sir Richard revealed his new venture at a briefing held on Monday at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London.
"We've done quite a lot of research; we think there are about 3,000 people out there who would want to do this," Sir Richard told the BBC. "If it is a success, we want to move into orbital flights and then, possibly, even get a hotel up there."
The deal is with Mojave Aerospace Ventures, the company set up by aviation pioneer Burt Rutan and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to exploit the technology developed for SpaceShipOne.
SpaceShipOne is one of more than 20 craft vying for the $10m (£5.7m) Ansari X-Prize, which rewards the first team to send a non-government, three-person craft over 100km (62 miles) into space, and repeat the feat in the same carrier inside two weeks.
The Virgin boss was flanked at Monday's announcement by Rutan, who has already collaborated with Sir Richard on Virgin GlobalFlyer, a jet plane designed to fly non-stop around the world without refuelling.
"Virgin has been in talks with Paul Allen and Burt throughout this year and in the early hours of Saturday morning signed a historical deal to license SpaceShipOne's technology to build the world's first private spaceship to go into commercial operating service," said Sir Richard, who founded the Virgin Group of companies.
Commentators said it was a logical next step for someone to come in and move the SpaceShipOne technology into the commercial flight business.
David Ashford, director of UK-based Bristol Spaceplanes Limited, another X-Prize contender, said space was finally being opened up for ordinary people.
"The price will come down - there's no doubt about that," he told BBC News Online. "The X-Prize has succeeded in doing what it set out to do. The original idea was to break the mould of thinking - to break Nasa's monopoly on space policy. Space tourism should have happened many years ago."
Mojave Aerospace Ventures has been asked by Sir Richard to produce a bigger version of SpaceShipOne. The Virgin SpaceShip (VSS) will carry five passengers compared with the two-passenger capacity currently offered by SpaceShipOne.
The final design for the maiden ship, the VSS Enterprise, should be signed off in 2005.
The vehicle will then have to be built and tested before beginning a scheduled space service.
"Every passenger will have a spectacular view; they will have considerable windows and luxurious seats," Sir Richard said.
"Initially, they will take off from the Mojave Desert near Los Angeles. It will be a three-hour journey. Passengers would have about a week's training prior to taking off."
The Virgin Group has interests in a range of businesses, including trains, finance, soft drinks, music, mobile phones, holidays, and cars.
Globally, Sir Richard is probably best known for his Virgin Atlantic airline and for his speedboat and ballooning adventures.
He said many of the group's existing pilots would be in line to take the controls of a VSS vehicle after the necessary training. |
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ash_the_minx
Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 12159
Location: cumbria!!
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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| that will never happen!!! but if it does then count me out il be so terrified and i wanted to be an astronaut when i was younger??!!! |
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Mullin
Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 20062
Location: Ivybridge
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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| It is going to happen! Richard Branson is building 3 or 4 space shuttles to carry passengers |
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ash_the_minx
Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 12159
Location: cumbria!!
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:17 pm Post subject: |
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| well thats just silly then!! |
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Mullin
Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 20062
Location: Ivybridge
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 11:03 am Post subject: |
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| He also wants to build a hotel in space! he is totally serious aswell! How cool would that be though!! :lol: |
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ash_the_minx
Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 12159
Location: cumbria!!
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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| hes nuts as well as bush! |
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Mullin
Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 20062
Location: Ivybridge
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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| The ticket to go to space are going to cost £100,000 each!! :shock: |
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ash_the_minx
Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 12159
Location: cumbria!!
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 10:28 am Post subject: |
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| well I still wont be going! |
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Mullin
Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 20062
Location: Ivybridge
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:09 am Post subject: |
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| No neither will i unless i win the lottery! :D |
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ash_the_minx
Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 12159
Location: cumbria!!
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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| not even if I win the lottery! |
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Mullin
Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 20062
Location: Ivybridge
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:08 am Post subject: |
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| Why on earth not! I give anything to go into space it would be amazing!! :D |
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orionrobots
Joined: 13 Oct 2004
Posts: 168
Location: London,Uk
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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I am so going to space when I can afford it. High hopes - but I want orionrobots to be involved in designing machines for a space agency at some point in the future.
I would love to take a holiday on a space station resort.. Maybe we will see the colonisation of space (like frontier stuff) in our lifetimes.
I wouldnt be living out there - my wife wouldnt like that. |
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Mullin
Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 20062
Location: Ivybridge
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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| I know tell me about it! Going to space would be an unbeliveable experience! I cant see me ever being able to afford it though! |
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orionrobots
Joined: 13 Oct 2004
Posts: 168
Location: London,Uk
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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Beware - it may come to pass that it is cheaper for space colonists than people living on the homeworld, and like gold rush/frontier, people are paid an incentive to go off colonising..
Anyway after Space Ship 1, and other commercial attempts which will succeed it - space travel will go down in cost a great deal. I for one welcome it. |
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Mullin
Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 20062
Location: Ivybridge
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Yep me to! I cant wait! Not to sure about actually living in Space though!! :shock: |
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