Richard Branson - Space Tourism ‘No Longer A Dream’
January 24, 2008 – 10:00 amIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
One guy that really isn’t afraid of taking chances is Sir Richard Branson. The visionary recently announced that his company is going to offer trips into outer space on the SpaceShipTwo, and its mothership the WhiteKnightTwo. Both of these ships are nearing completion.
Sir Richard Branson with a scale model of the White Knight II.
“It is quite clear from every astronaut that I’ve ever spoken to that seeing the planet from out there helps one to wake up to the importance of protecting the Earth.”
But he said the spaceships would also be able to launch small payloads and satellites at a low cost.
“This system offers tremendous potential to researchers who will be able to fly experiments much more often than before,” he said.
The ships will be launched from a pad in New Mexico that has yet to be built. The trip lasts around 2 1/2 hours and will carry passengers 62 miles above sea level to the point in the atmospheres where space technically begins.
Their spacecraft will then return to earth without completing a revolution of the planet.
More than 150 people have already signed up for the space adventure and are paying around $200,000 US for the trip.
What are your thoughts on Space travel? Is it something you would like to do?