I used to want to go to Hawaii for vacation, but now, I want to go to outer space. Richard Branson’s private space-tourism company, Virgin Galactic, will hopefully be offering commercial space flight for about $250,000 per person. One trip can take about 553 people; there are already almost 700 people signed up. People will be preparing for about three days at Spaceport America, and they take off on the fourth day. The company will also launch a reality show, Space Race, for people to compete for a ride on Virgin Galactic.
Currently, many private companies are sending spaceships into space. For example, Elon Musk launched SpaceX (Check out this article on Elon Musk). Another example is Soyuz, who have transported US astronauts to the ISS. Now, Virgin Galactic is going to make 550 people into astronauts every trip.
As a two hour suborbital trip about 359,000 ft attitude, these trips won’t go very far and will not reach the International Space Station, but they are designed to be affordable and accessible and they are definitely a giant leap for mankind.
To watch a video on a test flight, click here.
Click here to see the brochure from Virgin Galactic.