Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShipTwo

by Stephen Greenwood on

It’s a rainy, stormy day at the Mojave Spaceport – but it hasn’t stopped over 800 press, crew, and future space tourists from gathering for Virgin Galactic’s unveiling of their highly anticipated SpaceShipTwo commercial spacecraft.

This evening Richard Branson, Burt Rutan, and the Virgin Galactic team will be showing off the revolutionary machine that will be sending citizens into space within the next two years. Most of the guests in attendance tonight have already paid the $200,000 ticket price to take the suborbital flight. Another 82,000 have expressed interest in taking future flights as well – a healthy sign for what some consider a risky business venture.

Gadling is on site – bringing you exclusive video and photo of the event as it unfolds, so check back for more updates from the desert to witness a small step for mankind in the making. More photos of the SpaceShipTwo model on display after the break…

Virgin Galactic preps SpaceShipTwo

by Kraig Becker on

Virgin Galactic continues its march toward bringing space tourism to the (wealthy) masses and is reportedly putting the finishing touches on SpaceShipTwo, the vehicle that will take adventurous, and well heeled, travelers into sub-orbit. According to this story from the Telegraph, test flights are scheduled to begin in early 2010, with regular flights getting underway in 2012.

SpaceShipTwo is the second stage of a planned orbital delivery system. The first stage, dubbed WhiteKnightTwo, has been conducting test flights for a year, and will carry the smaller craft up to 50,000 feet. Upon reaching that altitude, SpaceShipTwo will detach and engage its own rocket engines, which will propel its passengers up to the edge of space at speeds exceeding Mach 3. Once there, the rockets will cut out, and those on board will have the opportunity to experience true weightlessness for s a brief time.

According to Virgin Galactic, more than 300 people have already payed the $200,000 ticket price to take the flight. Presumably that will include luggage fees that are all the rage with the airlines these days. Another 82,000 have expressed interest in taking future flights as well.

It appears that 2012 will be a milestone year for space tourism, as that is when the first space hotel is scheduled to open its doors too. Of course, the combined cost of hopping a flight on Virgin Galactic and spending a few days in that hotel will set you back a cool $4.6 million, but the view will be spectacular.

Social network jokes result in 13 Virgin Atlantic employees being fired

by Scott Carmichael on

13 Virgin Atlantic cabin crew members have found themselves in hot water (and without a job) after they posted inappropriate jokes about their employer on social networking site Facebook.

The jokes involved the crew members calling passengers “chavs” (the British equivalent of the US Redneck) and making jokes about faulty engines that had to be replaced 4 times a year. Other jokes claimed that Virgin Atlantic planes were full of cockroaches.

The Facebook group was setup by crew members based out of Gatwick airport. When Virgin Atlantic discovered the Facebook group, all 13 members were fired and the Facebook group was removed.

While the punishment may seem a little harsh, Virgin Atlantic is in a very competitive market, where jokes like this could cost a significant amount of money.

Virgin Atlantic has a more friendly (and official) Facebook page, with close to 7000 friends as well as links to their hottest deals and some video footage from a Virgin Atlantic cameo in the newest Bond movie.

Guess who else has been naughty in the air?


Virgin Galactic says thanks, but no thanks to space porn movie offer

by Scott Carmichael on

Virgin Galactic, the first commercial space “airline” has reportedly declined an offer of $1 Million, to allow the production of the worlds first galactic porn movie.

Regular flights on Virgin Galactic cost $200,000 each, so the offer of $1 Million seems quite generous, but Virgin Galactic politely declined.

Space flights are scheduled to start in late 2009 or early 2010. Virgin plan to offer the trips using 2 aircraft flying out of the Mojave desert. Once the program gets underway, spacecraft will take off from a new space port currently under construction in La Cruces, NM.

Of course, since this is news from Virgin, who are operated by what can only be described as the worlds most experienced marketing guru, the whole thing could also be another of their brilliant gimmicks to generate some free PR. And it seems to be working quite well for them.

If you have $200,000, and would like to fly into space (without taking your clothes off for a movie), then you can hand over a $20,000 deposit and book a trip, there are however already 280 people ahead of you, so it may take a while to get a spot.


These women did not film galactic porn — but they did do some other naughty things. Click the pictures to find out what they did.

Sir Richard Branson’s Private Jet

by Grant Martin on

Ever wonder what it’s like to be rich and famous and have your own private jet? Well, it looks a lot like this. Passing through the Mojave Desert airport last week, Gadling spotted Richard Branson’s Falcon 900EX, the French made, long range, ultra luxe corporate jet.

Sporting a blown up decal of Branson’s iris on the tail fin (the same, minus additional artistic work, done for Virgin Galactic), this jet has a maximum cruising altitude of 36,000 feet, speed of mach 0.87 (662 mph) and in its factory configuration can seat up to fourteen passengers. One can only imagine what sort of extravagances the Branson family has upgraded the aircraft with though. The range and speed of the aircraft make it perfect for important jetsetting moguls like Branson, who frequently needs to commute from his home United Kingdom to his island in the Caribbean to business in Southern California quickly.

Looking at the exterior of the aircraft, one can see that Sir Branson has clearly created this aircraft as a mobile advertisement for Virgin Galactic. In addition to the similar tail fin markings, the evolving VG aircraft have been stenciled near the cabin door, while the engine markings are G-GALX and the aircraft itself is named Galactic Girl.

Still, quite the improvement over conventional travel. Had Sir Branson not been buried under a phalanx of reporters we would have asked for a tour, but I suppose we’ll have to save that for the next visit out to the desert.

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