The New York Times-20080124-Built to Fly Into Space With the Greatest of Ease -They Hope-
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Built to Fly Into Space With the Greatest of Ease (They Hope)
Virgin Galactic, the company that hopes to fly well-heeled tourists to the edge of space by the end of 2009, provided a peek Wednesday at the craft that will take them there.
During a news conference at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, Richard Branson, the British entrepreneur whose Virgin Airways is the parent company of the project, said 2008 would be the year of the spaceship.
Mr. Branson showed models of two vehicles, both created by the airplane designer Burt Rutan. WhiteKnightTwo, a two-fuselage, four-engine plane, is designed to ferry a smaller spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, high into the sky and release it. The pilot of SpaceShipTwo will then fire the craft's rocket engine, which burns a combination of nitrous oxide and a rubber-based solid fuel, shooting the vehicle to an altitude of more than 62 miles into the realm of black sky.
If trips go as planned, passengers will experience several minutes of weightlessness and spectacular views from the many 18-inch windows. The pilot will rotate the wings into a feathered position to slow the craft for a glider landing.
Test flights of the new planes could occur this year.
Mr. Rutan said the new vehicles would be hundreds of times safer than current space flight, though there would still be risk involved.
Mr. Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, encountered disaster last summer when an explosion during a so-called cold test of the nitrous-oxide system killed three employees. Work on the engine has slowed as the company has tried to determine the cause of the explosion. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health later fined the company $25,870 for five violations of regulations for workplace safety.
About 100 prospective passengers were on hand Wednesday. One, Trevor Beattie, an advertising executive, said he was awed by Mr. Rutan's design.
It's what we, as kids in the '60s, dreamed the future would be like, Mr. Beattie said.
Tickets for the first flights are $200,000 apiece.
[Illustration]DRAWING: A drawing of the aircraft Virgin Galactic hopes will ferry tourists to the edge of space. It's what we, as kids in the '60s, dreamed the future would be like, a prospective passenger said.