Virgin Galactic: Holidays in Space
Richard Branson's Virgin Brand Extends Beyond The Earth
Holidays and trips into space will soon be a reality for those would like to go at a reasonable price, thanks to the new era of the commercial space industry.
Holidays in space, as well as space tourism will soon be a reality within the next few years, thanks to new technology and commitment.
Several companies around the globe are now entering the new era of the commercial space industry, building both spaceships and space hotels, but Virgin Galactic is one of the best-known players in the industry. Their fleet of spaceships which are currently being built by Scaled Composites, and the newly formed “SpaceShip Company”.
Virgin Galactic plan to take their first customers into space by 2009, using the spaceships which were built on the SpaceShipOne concept, allowing an economical air launch, with a unique “feathering” heat-free landing system – which will provide a safe and kind on the environment trip into space.
Also, Virgin are planning on building several more “spaceports” worldwide, after their first spaceport, named “Spaceport America”, is being built in New Mexico in association with the New Mexico State government. Virgin is also building a spaceport in Sweden and is also considering building one in the United Kingdom.
Virgin has also expressed their plans on building a space hotel within the next few decades.
There is another company however, who plan on building a space hotel within the next few years, which was based on a previous NASA space station concept.
Bigelow Aerospace, in Las Vegas, is building prototype space hotels and already have one prototype in orbit (as of May 2007), called Genesis 1.
They are currently planning on launching several more prototypes before a real working hotel is built and launched.
The concept is based on the NASA Transhab design, which is an inflatable space hotel, which is made from really tough and durable materials which space debris will not be able to penetrate.
The growing space-travel industry is sure to be a profitable one. Virgin has promised to reinvest its profits back into the company, in an attempt to make space travel affordable for everybody in the future. It's an excellent PR ploy and it remains to be seen how "affordable" this sort of travel really will be. According to Virgin Galactic, one "space ticket" will cost around US$200,000.
Astronaut training and equipment testing is, in some cases, being handled by NASA on behalf of these new business. But it is possible that there will be new companies overseeing this aspect in future as well.
The next few decades will be the era when commercial space travel and tourism really does take off.
