Sir Richard Branson is not just a famous billionaire – he’s actually a legend for planning the Virgin Galactic, a space tourism venture of dreams, due to start during 2013, if all thinggo well. The first pilot who will drive the program into space is David Mackay, in his maiden voyage. The 500th customer to be sent into orbit has now been announced and believe it or not, it’s someone most of us probably know, Ashton Kutcher.
The wealthy entrepreneur has shared a few of his thoughts: “I gave Ashton a quick call to congratulate and welcome him. He is as thrilled as we are at the prospect of being among the first to cross the final frontier (and back!) with us and to experience the magic of space for himself.” The actor is famous not only for being a charismatic pioneer of social media, but also for being the first individual to reach a million Twitter follower count.
The completion of Virgin Galactic has been accomplished, in New Mexico, and now the company plans suborbital pleasure flights in the SpaceShip Two, during the next year. The launch is achieved through a glider equipped with a rocket motor and a few more technical systems designed for spaceflight. It can accommodate two pilots and 6 lucky passengers, with previously bought tickets.
Following this, the WhiteKnight Two mother-ship is going to get the SpaceShip Two up to an altitude of 50,000 feet. Here, the last-mentioned will be dropped, its rocket booster activating and blasting it as high as 68 miles. The flight lasts for around 2 hours and 30 minutes, for a price of $200,000 per individual.
There’s a suite of celebrities to get onboard the vessel on the occasion of the space-trip. There are already big numbers of Hollywood actors enrolled, international entrepreneurs, scientists, etc. all of them having made deposits in order to be among the first to rise from the Earth. SETI’s senior astronomer, Seth Shostak, stated that the more celebrities take the trip, the better, as this would promote space tourism better. He also pointed out that Justin Bieber should be a great example of celebrity to enroll in such flights.
In addition, some surprising idea arose from Playboy, as to lunch a Playboy club in space, in tight connection with Virgin Galactic. A zero-gravity dance club, casino with “human roulette” and an exquisite restaurant would be great perspectives, in their opinion. We, men, sincerely welcome the initiative.
[Telegraph]
