WhiteKnightTwo to be unveiled on Monday, space to seem less far away
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 26th 2008 1:23PM
posted Jul 26th 2008 1:23PM
[Via The Register]
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fail
This entire project is going to tank in a very public, embarrassing and very likely tragic way.
Why so pessimistic? They got into space with a very safe design in a much shorter time than NASA or any other space agency, and for a lot less money. It takes innovation to make advancements, and NASA hasn't being doing much of that lately. If I had the money I'd sign up for a flight right now.
100 registered people spending $200,000 with approximately 65,000 others looking to pay $20,000. Obviously the tech could go wrong as Branson has experienced previously, but its safer than the shuttle and is going to have alot more investment and safety checks than his periodic balloon rides.
@Juaquin
What? Are you kidding me? These two organizations have two totally different goals. Pretty sure these guys here are here to make money.
I suggest you go to the NASA website to see what they are up to.
Can't believe you said "They got into space with a very safe design in a much shorter time than NASA". That's fucking upsetting. You might want to look at the years NASA first went into space.
One thing about space: It's big.
For instance, how much do you think one Maine sized asteroid is worth? How many billion for mining one, if we drag it into earth's orbit? There are many more example of this, resources in space that can be used to benefit man kind, and all we have to do is get the abilities to go up there and get it!
Making money from going to space is not a bad thing. The money made benefits people, and everyone on the whole earth in the long run. Besides that, what about the technological advances?
@Irwin
What's so fucking upsetting? They do have a very safe design. And they did do it faster than NASA (of course, they had years of research done by others to draw upon). I never said they had the same purpose as NASA. I was just refuting the idea that SpaceShipTwo was in any way unsafe or that this project was a bad idea.
And you can't deny that NASA's innovation nowadays is basically nill. It's so bad that some NASA engineers are moonlighting on competing rocket designs to the Aries. I love NASA and everything they've done, but they need to get back to their roots and keep moving forward.
@ Juaquin
That's the Robinson way!
another thing about space: it's very empty. Finding a Maine sized asteroid isn't as easy as it sounds, and it doesn't sound very easy.
What do you mean deny? There is nothing to deny. You should, like I said, look at their website to see what they are doing. They aren't just sitting their on their asses all day not doing anything.
I don't know everything that they are doing but from the top of my head I can think of the Ion Propulsion(Deep Space 1 which uses it set the fastest speed by a spaceship) drives that they are improving, the probe that only recently landed on mars, probe that landed on Saturn's moon Titan, the probe that intercepted a comet and brought back grains of dust, a probe that is propelled solely by the power of light(not solar power), tons of research in weather prediction. Wow what else?
They've already had deaths due to accidents while testing and building.
That's the risk when you're a pioneer.
You know guys there's a HUGE difference between getting a small thingy just above the atmosphere and getting into deep space.
Even the shuttle can only get to low orbit incidentally, but it can carry a self-propelling device that gets itself deeper into space, if it's not too large or heavy that is.
In short this won't lead to 'mining asteroids', that's apart from the usual issues of our inability to alter the path of asteroids and inability to get freight through such distances at a cost that would even get close to being thinkable.
@Jinto
So how's pulling in a Maine sized asteroid into earth's orbit a good thing?
@Juaquin: It's a little stupid to compare flying to 100 km to actually getting into orbit (requires less than 1/60th the energy).
As noted by Wikipedia, the accomplishments of SSO are more comparable to the X-15 project than to the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle was first launched 27 years before SSO, and does a hell of a lot more than it – orbits, reenters, keeps several astronauts alive for days on end, ferries materials & personnel to the ISS, launches satellites, conducts repair operations, etc. Yes, two have been destroyed (in 31 years), but they've conducted 121 launches... compare that to SSO's handful.
Jason - "That's the risk when you're a pioneer."
Yeah. It's like playing Oregon Trail. I'd want someone with a lot of money on my team.
nice!
LAST
perpetual fail
question is how many frequent flyer miles do i get out of it?
chances are, if you have the money to ride this thing, frequently at that, mileage discounts wouldn't even matter to you...
Oh the rich get orgasmic over every penny, make no mistake, that's how they got rich, by making money so important.
Please make a point Engadget of making as big a deal when the Falcon 9 is unveiled and when the First Dragon goes into orbit. Seeing as thats an actual spacecraft and this is a toy for millionaires to blow money on.
Falcon 1 is launching monday, so watch that.
Falcon PUNCH!
Nathaniel= +1
Pardon me but will this $200,000 trip be reflected upon my Frequent Flyer Miles? Much obliged...(fixes monocle and puffs on a pipe)
Since it's only one trip you aren't eligible for frequent flyer miles, but we can sign you up for our 10 trip special at a discount price of $1.98 million which will entitle you for 50 free miles per trip!
Why are commenters here so against pushing technology?
We're not against pushing technology. VirginGalactic is not really accomplishing anything though. Cannot put things into orbit. Ever. They're hurling rich people strait up so they can go "Look Space!" and then falling back down. Even if it could reach orbital velocity this re-entry method doesn't work at that speed. The whole thing is a waste.
Who are you to say its a waste? If rich people choose to spend their money by going up in the air and saying "look, space", that is their choice. Who are you to judge them for that? Obviously it isn't a waste to them.
@SeanG
This is a business....to make money. Just like any other. They're creating a product they intend to sell and make money off of, not trying to pioneer the next step in human evolution. It's just entertainment.
You know what else is a business whose intent is not to pioneer society? Merry-go-rounds. Why are you here in this post when you could be picketing outside a merry-go-round factory because they are spending money that does not evolve society?
In fact, why are you here at all? Capitalism is clearly not something you approve of.
Bonus for the Zzyzx reference.
@blu
tmi, i dont want to know you and your partners roleplaying plots.
I wonder if people just read all these with little hopes and dreams to be something some day. For us this means multiple attempts at writing "First" over every single topic...
FIRST!
That whole NASA thing was built on not being SECOND to Russia. Let's be the FIRST to get a man in space. Let's be the FIRST to get a man in orbit. Let's be the FIRST to get a man on the moon. We have to beat those lousy Russians to prove how great we are at being FIRST. Well the Russians went broke FIRST and America's poured trillions of dollars on technology that may or may not have paid back some of the cost. I don't give a crap about living on the moon or Mars.
Let the rich people pay their money to fly around at the fringes of space since they have nothing better to do with their money except gaze down upon an increasingly polluted planet and yell FIRST TOURIST IN SPACE. Although I think an American already paid the Russians for that honor, but it wasn't in first-class style.
If you really believe that the only point to the space race was some kind of Global Superpower pissing contest, then you know as much about the international politics of the time and wartime strategy as your avatar.
Less, in fact.
Please, stop using your cell-phone, satellite TV, GPS or any similar thing you use daily. If there were some kind of Universal Justice, you'd have lost any right to use them with that comment.
its SIR richard branson to you!
Pray to god that thing hanging in the middle never breaks off, or else it will be the next space station
Pray to god that thing hanging in the middle never breaks off, or else it will be the next space station
I think the middle pod is actually meant to break off. From what i can tell the middle pod (Spaceship Two) is the vehicle to take people to the edge of the atmosphere.
Bahahaha. i am, that "thing in the middle" IS the spaceship.
So let's see:
1) Stupid screen-name x
2) Thought a plane with
engines can go into
outer space x
3) # 2) implies that he
still does not know
that there is NO AIR
in space (ergo no
engine will work there) x
4) Didn't see the space
shuttle x
5) Double posted...
Yes, I think it's safe to assume YOU FAIL!
WHITE-knight?!
There's so much racism in society still. Why is even necessary to mention the color in name? How would people feel if this was named BlackKnight?
The racism makes me sick.
@ SHARONE
Whatever you do, don't go watch the new Batman movie.
Either that was very poor sarcasm or you're an ignorant fool.
"its just a flesh wound!"
Look, I'll have your leg!
why is engadget giving birth to multiple clones like a surrogate mother, and i never went that hard on you, did i...??
This thing is Cool !!! I saw the demonstration video on TV. Both the side planes take the center one to the atmosphere, undock it and come back. Than the center one goes higher and a capsule with passengers is shooted in space. Later, after a few hours, the computerized system gets it back and lands it...........
So many nay-sayers. Are you expecting the first private spacecraft to accomplish what NASA has done with billions of government money?
Sounds like the people saying FAIL to the personal computer because it couldn't measure up to the military's at the time.
I'll bet he felt like a real ass after he thought he was first on the mobile me article...
Think im gonna low rank you because he seemed to have edited it before i read it
Richard Branson is worth more than your life, go frickin read wikipedia and you'll realize he's not just some loser big-shot.
BTW unless your name is failed sarcasm you might want to change it
Engadget needs to put a filter in place that automatically rejects "first" comments.
they do nothing but WASTE EVERYONE'S SCREENSPACE
thats so sweet how they have windows all the way around the hull
...if we're talking about screen space, I'm pretty sure your comment was longer than the "FIRST!"
Is it immature, yeah, but I don't get why it irks people so much. God, get some real problems.
Smithers, hop in!
But sir...
I said...Hop. In.
For those who say NASA isn't doing any innovation, please take time to educate yourself at the NASA website. The following is a nearly complete list of NASA's current missions:
Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), AIM: Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, Aqua, ARCTAS, Astro-E2/Suzaku, Aura, CALIPSO, Cassini-Huygens, Chandra X-ray Observatory, CloudSat, Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS), Constellation: NASA's Future, Cluster ESA/NASA, Dawn, Deep Impact, Earth Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (EP-TOMS), Earth Observing-1, EPOXI, Fire and Smoke, GALEX, GLAST Launches on Gamma Ray, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), Geotail, Gravity Probe B, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, Hayabusa (MUSES-C), High Energy Transient Explorer-2 (HETE-2), Hinode (Solar B), Hubble Space Telescope, Ice Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICEsat), International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), International Space Station, Jason, Landsat, LCROSS, Mars Express, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mercury, Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER), New Horizons, NOAA Environmental Satellites, Ocean Surface Topography/Jason 2, Phoenix on Mars, Pioneer, Pioneer Venus, Polar, Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES), QuikScat, Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI), Rosetta, Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), SMART 1, SOFIA, Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO), Space Shuttle, Spitzer Space Telescope, Stardust, Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS), Swift, TacSat-2, Terra, THEMIS, Thermospere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED), Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling (TC4), Tropical Rainfall Measuring (TRMM), Voyager, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), XMM-Newton
I wonder how that list looks if you removed all the international/ESA projects.
I wonder if anyone actually read that list... I'll give him a +
And while we are at it, the number of articles he begins with "It's been a hot minute" are excessive IMHO.
So, that genius is gonna really do his revolutionary project, 'Virgle'?!!
Looks like a great ride...for ants!
The Richard Branson Plane for Kids Who Want to Go Into Space Good and Learn to Do Other Stuff Good As Well
That guy looks like Chuck Norris. I can't believe no one mentioned this as it was the first thing I saw when I looked at that picture.
Now is definitely not the first time that most people have seen this guy's face.
Chuck Norris' beard should punch you for that.
Perhaps people avoided saying so because he doesn't look like norris AT ALL.
........................................... lots of dots mean your far from it
Short drive? Mojave is about 120 miles from here (Baker, right by Zzyzx)
(I know, you were just looking to throw Zzyzx in there... any affection for it -- beyond the freeway exit sign? It's an awesome place -- I've taken CSU Cont-Ed classes to spend a couple weekends there)
Second to scream.
First to fail.
New one looks sleeker, but somehow I liked the rounded shape of the former.
Leave your fantasies out of this!
In Soviet Russia, Engadget Firsts YOU.
Sad.
200k for 5 minutes of puking up the champagne and caviar? Galactic and it can't even go into orbit? Imagine NASA trying that stunt and calling it Star Voyager.
The filthy rich are revolting. They ruin everything, worse still in NYC, look what they've done to Manhattan, it's now dead of any real culture. They will do the same with everything they touch. I can see the list for the first trip now. 200k on this? These people should pay tax and be slapped hard for being such idiots as to waste money on this.
Most people have to work hard for their money, who are you to decide what's 'sad' use of money? You make me sick.
PeterNJ. I agree! Yeah, yeah. Slap up those filthy rich people and tax them. Better yet, lets get our torches and stampeed their castles! Yeah! And take all their money! Sure!! And we can sit on our lazy butts and eat their caviar!! Yeah! We deserve it! Its not out of ENVY, just in the name of "culture"! Vote Communist and eliminate all the rich, and they'll be poor and stupid like ME!
please dont procreate blu
The question remains: DOES IT BLEND?!
The Register article says that these voyages are for the "fabulously rich", and complains about the price being 200,000 for a mere 5 minute trip. Personally I find it ridiculous that people are complaining about the price and insinuating that the greedy private companies are charging too much. It costs 10 to 20 million dollars to fly into space with the Russian government as a space tourist. Virgin Galactic on the other hand, from the private sector, are only charging $200,000. Granted, going into space with the russsian government is a much longer trip, but still.
In 9th grade I won hangman with "Zzyzx".
I must say it's really amazing how Virgin Galactic can managed to get this WhiteKnightTwo into orbit with less investment compare to NASA.
One thing that make me wonder - i think not everybody who can go for space tourist - there might be some training before you get into space! ? like NASA did lots of intensive testing with human to ensure they are fit enough to stay obit for longer ?