NEW YORK -
Future passengers aboard Virgin Galactic spaceliners can look forward to
cushioned reclining seats and lots of windows during suborbital flights aboard
SpaceShipTwo, a concept interior of which was unveiled by British entrepreneur
Sir Richard Branson Thursday. [See image here.]
"It won't
be much different than this," Branson told reporters here at Wired
Magazine's NextFest forum. "It's strange to think that in 12 months we'll be
unveiling the actual plane, and then test flights will commence right after
that."
Virgin
Galactic's spaceliners will be specially-outfitted SpaceShipTwo
vehicles built by Mojave, California-based Scaled Composites and veteran
aerospace designer Burt Rutan. The new spacecraft, designed specifically for space tourism, will be three
times the size of Rutan's SpaceShipOne,
which won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for privately-developed piloted
spacecraft capable of reaching suborbital space twice in two weeks.
The
air-launched SpaceShipTwo is designed to seat eight people - six passengers and
two pilots - and be hauled into launch position by WhiteKnightTwo, a massive
carrier craft currently under construction by Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic
president Will Whitehorn said.
For an
initial ticket price of $200,000, Virgin Galactic passengers will buy a 2.5-hour
flight aboard SpaceShipTwo and launch from an altitude of about 60,000 feet
(18,288 meters), while buckled safely in seats that recline flat after reaching
suborbital space. A flight animation depicted passengers clad in their own
personal spacesuits as they reached a maximum altitude of at least 68 miles (110
kilometers).
While the
spacesuit designs are not yet final, they will likely be equipped with personal
data and image recorders to add to SpaceShipTwo's in-cabin cameras, Whitehorn
said.
"If it was
ready next week, I'd be there," Alan Watts, who has traded in two million Virgin
Atlantic frequent flyer miles for a ride on SpaceShipTwo, told SPACE.com.
"I'm really looking forward to it."
Branson's
Virgin Galactic spaceliners are slated to roll out and begin test flights by
early 2008 in Mojave, California, with future operational spaceflights to be
staged from New Mexico's Spaceport America beginning in 2009.
"SpaceShipTwo is obviously designed
as a commercial vehicle," Whitehorn said, adding that the vehicle will have a
double-skinned hull as added safety for the passengers and pilots inside its
pressurized cabin.
Passengers
will have several minutes of weightlessness during the spaceflight, and then
have about 40 seconds to return to their seats, Whitehorn said, adding that the
floor of SpaceShipTwo is also designed to be used during landing of spaceflyers
fail to reach their spots in time.
WhiteKnightTwo carrier vehicles -
which will be larger than a Boeing 757 jet - will also sport the same interior
of SpaceShipTwo, and will be used for to help train passengers during a
three-day orientation period before launch, Virgin Galactic officials said.
Stephen
Attenborough, chief of astronaut relations for Virgin Galactic, told
SPACE.com that the advantage of two SpaceShipTwo pilots not only allows
for redundancy, but frees one pilot to handle any passenger emergencies or
issues that pop up during flight.
Whitehorn
and Branson both said that SpaceShipTwo will rely on a new type of hybrid rocket
fuel, one slightly different from the rubber and nitrous oxide mixture that
propelled SpaceShipOne into suborbital space three times in 2004.
The
WhiteKnightTwo will also rely on new, cleaner-burning jet engines and bear a
close resemblance to the Virgin GlobalFlyer aircraft, which was also built by
Rutan's Scaled Composites and flew around the world without refueling in 2005.
"If you're
going to build a spaceship, you've got to build a green spaceship," Branson
said, adding that the carbon dioxide output from a single spaceflight is on par
with those of a business class seat aboard commercial aircraft.
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