14 DAY TRIAL // In what witnesses describe as an impressive, out-of-this-world experience, Virgin Galactic unveiled last night its amazing, new spaceliner prototype, named SpaceShipTwo. After about five years in the making, the spacecraft, which is capable of reaching the upper limits of the atmosphere, can now carry six passengers and two pilots with it. It can go as high as touching the edge of outer space, on luxury runs that are guaranteed to offer thrills to passengers, Space reports.
But, in addition to its commercial purpose, the aircraft is also innovative from another point of view – it represents one of the few successful private enterprises that attempt to offer a means for more people to go to space. At this point, hiring a place on the Soyuz capsule, which is constructed and operated by the Russian space agency, RosCosmos, is the only way to get to orbit, but it costs heavily. A seat on the SpaceShipTwo goes as high as $200,000.
Last night, as the SST was being brought onto the tarmac at the Mojave Air and Space Port, attached to its carrier spacecraft known as White Knight Two, more than 800 people endured the freezing cold to witness the miracle. Also in attendance were California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who also participated in the christening ceremony of the new spaceliner. SpaceShipTwo thus became the Virgin Space Ship (VSS) Enterprise. The craft is the first in a series of seven that Virgin Galactic ordered from The Spaceship Company. The latter is a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group.
“I have to tell you that there's a lot of cool things you get to do when you're Governor. But today is one of the coolest things that I've ever done. Space is our next great frontier,” Arnold Schwarzenegger said. “I want to say that this program has been, at this point, harder than we thought it would be. It's taken longer and is more difficult. This is an enormous milestone today in unveiling the first commercial manned spacecraft. I look forward to moving into the test program,” Burt Rutan, who is the chief technology officer and chairman emeritus at Scale Composites, added. The expert is known for his advanced knowledge in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft.
“This is the world's first manned commercial spacecraft. I think for 40 years people have dreamed of this […] but they have increasingly believed that it just wasn't going to happen,” the President of Virgin Galactic, Will Whitehorn, shared. “It's really here. It has been done. This has been five years of extremely hard work. The result is something quite utterly unique. For us, space tourism is a good goal in its own right because it will create the circumstances of regularity and safety. And that will give the confidence for the kind of wall of private sector investment I do see coming into space launch in the future,” he concluded.