Spaceship 2.0

July 28, 2008

From the creators of the world's first privately developed spaceship comes its commercial cousin, Eve. During an unveiling ceremony at Scaled Composites' Mojave, Calif., base, Burt Rutan, who designs cutting edge aircraft -- and spacecraft -- with an artist's eye, and his newest best friend, the daring and dashing Richard Branson, of Virgin fame and fortune, showed off the launch vehicle for their new venture.

Branson started a new business, Virgin Galactic, after watching Rutan's prototype SpaceShipOne make three flights in 2004 to clinch a $10 million purse put out by the X Prize Foundation.

Like its predecessor, SpaceShipTwo will travel into suborbital space after being toted off the ground by a jet carrier, aka: Eve, named for Branson’s mother. Eve is to SpaceShipTwo what the White Knight was for SpaceShipOne. You can read the full press release here.

The rollout comes a year and two days after an accident claimed the lives of three Scaled employees working on the new spaceship's rocket engine. Scaled is appealing a $25,870 fine levied by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which cited inadequate training and unsafe conditions as contributors to the accident.

Though the accident and investigation delayed plans for the start of Virgin’s space tourism business, it didn’t seem to stem enthusiasm and support for the venture. The company, which is charging $200,000 for a ride, has already collected full fares from 100 armchair astronauts ready to leave -- albeit briefly -- the home planet.

Comments

[otterknow]

I was at the first two launches of spaceship one...this is going to be even more impressive..maybe the bean counters at NASA can take note of the total project cost...cheaper than a single shuttle launch!

Kudos and cheers!

[InDeWitt]

Thank goodness someone is developing technology to send people with too much money into space. I just know that the $10 million awarded to the first generation vehicle couldn't have been spent on anything better.

[Gabe]

Cheaper than a Shuttle launch, yes, but suborbital and very brief, with no additional payload besides the crew and passengers.

This is an exciting time for private space exploration, but these are just baby steps...

[MC1171611]

This is Capitalism at work. Where there is a market, someone will arise (barring the government getting in the way, which they usually do) to fill that market. Suborbital space flights are one of those things; millions of people want to go to space, and many of those are willing to pay what it costs. Good idea, I say: making or providing something that someone will pay for.

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