Space Tourist

Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic and Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites showed off SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo to the media today. According to the dynamic duo, who are about the set the space tourism industry on fire, SpaceShipTwo is about 60-percent complete and WhiteKnightTwo is approximately 70-percent complete.

WhiteKnightTwo (WK2), which will be the largest commercial aircraft made from composite materials, will carry SpaceShipTwo (SS2) up to 60,000 before SS2 will ascend into suborbital space.

Both WK2 and SS2 are being built so that they may accommodate two flights per day. SpaceShipTwo is being designed so that it can tolerate the worst case scenario upon reentry into the atmosphere, meaning nose first, belly first or even upside down. Branson is not claiming that WhiteKnightTwo will be as safe as modern day aircraft, however, as he likens the flight upon SS2 to aircraft in the 1920s when the industry was just getting started.

Both SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo will be ready later this year for their first test flights and are expected to be available for public flights are early as 2009. Branson says the two aircraft will have open architecture in that those who wish help in developing other commercial spacecraft based upon WK2 or SS2 will be welcomed.

Branson’s ambition is to build 40 to 50 such aircraft, which will be able to accommodate over 100,000 passengers.

With the space tourism industry gearing up for flight within the next two years, accredited space travel agents are also getting ready to pitch the wonderment to potential space tourists. According to press.co.nz, Virgin Galactic employee Carolyn Wincer is just such a space travel agent.

Wincer is selling tickets at $200,000 a pop aboard the Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo, which is a far cry below the $20 million ride currently offered by Space Adventures to the International Space Station.

SpaceShipTwo is a collaboration between Virgin Galactic’s rogue CEO Sir Richard Branson and maverick builder and CEO of Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan. The building of SpaceShipTwo piggybacks off the success of SpaceShipOne winning the Anasari X-Prize in 2004 for suborbital space flight.

As part of Carolyn Wincer’s training as a space travel agent, she has experienced zero gravity, which will help her better sell the low orbit earth experience to clients. Flights will take off from the Scaled Composites Mojave Desert Compound in California, stay aloft for 2 ½ hours, then land at the Spaceport America airfield in New Mexico.

Wincer says it is easier to sell high-end customers on the idea of a vacation on a private island or upon a game reserve since the idea of space travel is still quite a bit out there and scary to many. But, as the field matures and people start to go up and come down safely, space travel agents will start to routinely ask, “Would you like to travel to Europe, the Caribbean or Low Earth Orbit this year?”