Brahmand NewsPrevious Article
Brahmand NewsNext Article
Aero India 2023

Virgin Galactic to launch space tourism in 18 months


SpaceShipTwo is the center fuselage and attached set of wings.

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson Monday said that Virgin Galactic is on track to offer commercial space travel within 18 months, and that space hotels are next on the drawing board.

The project's SpaceshipTwo, an aircraft built by aviation engineer Burt Rutan and designed to carry paying customers into suborbital space, had its maiden flight in the California desert in March.

"We just finished building SpaceshipTwo. We are 18 months away from taking people into space," Branson told a business conference here, adding that the fare will start at USD 200000.

Virgin Galactic, which aims to become the world's first commercial company to promote space tourism, has already collected USD 45 million in deposits from more than 330 people who have reserved seats aboard the six-person craft.

Branson also has visions of establishing hotels in space, which well-heeled tourists can use as a base for shuttle flights over the moon.

"We are looking at hotels in space. We love the moon," the tycoon said, adding that he was also interested in launching "small satellites into space" for the benefit of schools and universities.

Under Branson's brainchild scheme, the SpaceshipTwo craft is to be launched into space with the help of mothership White Knight Two (WK2).

WK2 will carry SpaceshipTwo to an altitude of around 16 kilometres (50,000 feet) before dropping the smaller spaceship and allowing it to fire up its rocket motor to blast up to the brink of space.

Once it has reached suborbital space, SpaceshipTwo passengers will be able to view the earth from portholes next to their seats, or unbuckle their seatbelts and float in zero gravity.

Tags:

Other Related News

Tri-service firepower, manoeuvre exercise 'Bharat Shakti' begins in Pokhran

The mega 'Bharat Shakti' exercise to demonstrate the prowess of indigenously manufactured defence equipment of the three services began in Rajasthan's Pokhran firing range on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Army Chief General Manoj Pande in attendance.

BRAHMOS Missile Systems

Headlines

Brahmand World Defence Update 2023

Brahmand World Defence Update

Image Gallery