The world’s first commercial spaceflight

By Queuebot in Advertising, Auto & Transportation, Paranormal, Science & Tech on Dec 8, 2009 at 1:09 pm

Space travel seems almost out of vogue these days, compared with its heyday in the latter half of last century. However, Richard Branson and Burt Rutan may be about to change all that by launching commercial space travel.

This may sound like a fantasy, but the world’s first commerical spacecraft was revealed by them yesterday – the SpaceShipTwo, and test flights are set to start immediately.

Branson and Rutan will be the first into space with their families, and there is already a huge list of reservations for the twice-daily flights to take place after this. The plane carries just six passengers at a time, each of whom pays £200,000 for just a few minutes of flight.

So as it stands, this is nothing more than a distant dream for all but the super-rich. However, it is certainly the start of something that could be absolutely huge.

Link – via babycreativeblog

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Babycreative.

Tags: Branson, commercial, space travel, SpaceShip2

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Sebastian
Dec 8th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I’m looking forward to this so damn much!
Although I don’t really like Branson I have to admit not many people would invest in something like that. I think Burt Rutan is a genius however, he’s the only guy in the aerospace industry who still makes it look cool!
Concorde is never going to fly again ,next year the Space Shuttle will join it, and there are no replacements for either of them, because they’re not necessary. But they’re COOL! This SpaceShip project is the ONLY cool thing happening in aerospace since the 1960′s.
Xinavera
Dec 8th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Well… maybe. The Russians have been providing commercial spaceflight for ten years now (and orbital spaceflight at that). Rutan is certainly a genius and Branson has the drive and the cash, but I’m not going to be really impressed until I see a private orbital missions.
Sebastian
Dec 8th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Alright, but you could do at least 10 sub-orbital flights onboard SpaceShipTwo for the price of the trip aboard the boring 43 year-old russian spacecraft. And by the way orbital flight is the next goal for Rutan.. just take it one step at a time, this is already an amazing achievement.
binc
Dec 8th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Is anyone else thinking. . . Looks like Snoopy?
Jev
Dec 8th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
@Sebastian
This SpaceShip project is the ONLY cool thing happening in aerospace since the 1960′s.

Your so wront on many levels…
Have a look at http://www.Copenhagensuborbitals.com. Im a part of the team. We having a rocket test this sunday 13th of december, a static one though, but still. We are not a company, we are not comercial, we are doing this privately and for fun.
Sebastian
Dec 8th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
@Jev

Ok that’s true I’m sorry I didn’t mean to diminish the work done by people like you. I did research on the Ansari X-prize and I was amazed by how many different teams had so many different approaches and ideas, so more than SpaceShipOne it was the concept that I thought was “cool”.
What I should have said is that it is the only widely known cool thing happening, like Concorde and the space shuttle. I think that’s important because it feels like nobody gives a damn about air and space travel anymore (except for the people who work on it)! So.. just looking for something that would make it appear less boring to the public.

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