Re: Is Virgin Galactic for Real?


<thomsona@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1136389112.123707.90750@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Herb Schaltegger wrote:
>
>> He's not going to orbit. He's launching tourists on sub-orbital hops
>> inside bigger versions of Rutan's SpaceShip One. Yes, it's quite
>> technically feasible. Economically feasible? That remains to be seen.
>> On the other hand, quite a number of people have already signed up to
>> go on these hops to I'd say yes, he's quite serious.
>
>
> Things will probably change a bit by the time they start flying, but
> here's generally what they've been talking about:
>
>
> http://www.space.com/adastra/050523_virgin_nss.html
>
> "The flight itself will have the same basic characteristics as the
> SpaceShipOne flights last year: after being dropped from the carrier
> aircraft, a rocket motor will propel SpaceShipTwo into suborbital
> space, after which the spacecraft will glide back to a runway landing
> in Mojave. However, SpaceShipTwo will fly a little higher, with a peak
> altitude between 360,000 and 400,000 feet (110,000 and 122,000 meters).
> That trajectory will give passengers about six minutes of
> weightlessness. During that time the passengers will be able to float
> about the cabin, connected to their seats by a tether that will make it
> easy for them to return when the g-forces of reentry build. Each
> passenger will also have their own large window from which they will be
> able to see the Earth and space. The cabin seats will be designed to
> ensure the comfort of passengers during the peak g-loads of launch and
> reentry, which will reach 5 g."



Two hundred thousand dollars for six minutes of weightlessness? I bet
you can get more weightless time on the Comet Vomit for less that two
hundred thousand dollars.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Is Virgin Galactic for Real?
    ... He's launching tourists on sub-orbital hops ... However, SpaceShipTwo will fly a little higher, with a peak ... During that time the passengers will be able to float ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: SpaceShip Two Prelude To Trans-Pacific Business Class?
    ... This is what SpaceShipTwo is all about I agree. ... A bigger White Knight seems completely doable, look at White Knight 2 vs White ... Your design wound end up going to hundreds of miles altitude they fall back into the atmosphere going like a bat out of hell, this is going to cause very large G forces on the passengers which is going to knock them unconscious at the least, and could well injure or kill the more frail passengers. ... Particularly with rising fuel prices and teleconferencing replacing some of the things it was supposed to do in relation to trans-oceanic business, it probably is a technology that only could have made sense in the 1960's environment with face-to-face meetings and cheap jet fuel. ...
    (sci.space.history)
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