WhiteKnightTwo to be unveiled on Monday, space to seem less far away

Hold onto your dollar bills, y'all -- the WhiteKnightTwo is set to be unveiled (and swooned over) on Monday. We knew the fabled space tourism vehicle was set to be unwrapped this month, but knowing that said event is merely hours away just gets our juices flowin'. Richard Branson and "other dignitaries" are preparing to officially launch the ship at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California (a short drive from Zzyzx, we hear), and we're still being led to believe that test flights should begin as early as this fall. Hey, at least you know what you're doing next year if your ship comes in.

[Via The Register]

[Nesnah @ Jul 26th 2008 1:31PM]

fail

[Joe @ Jul 26th 2008 1:31PM]

This entire project is going to tank in a very public, embarrassing and very likely tragic way.

[Juaquin @ Jul 26th 2008 1:47PM]

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.

[d0mth0ma5 @ Jul 26th 2008 1:54PM]

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.

[Irwin @ Jul 26th 2008 1:57PM]

@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.

[[e-mail] @ Jul 26th 2008 2:32PM]

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?

[Juaquin @ Jul 26th 2008 4:39PM]

@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.

[Bob @ Jul 26th 2008 7:50PM]

@ Juaquin

That's the Robinson way!

[John @ Jul 26th 2008 10:06PM]

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.

[Irwin @ Jul 27th 2008 2:16AM]

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?

[Jason @ Jul 27th 2008 7:39AM]

They've already had deaths due to accidents while testing and building.

That's the risk when you're a pioneer.

[Wwhat @ Jul 27th 2008 9:33AM]

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.

[diode3diode @ Jul 27th 2008 11:40AM]

@Jinto
So how's pulling in a Maine sized asteroid into earth's orbit a good thing?

[HunterXI @ Jul 27th 2008 12:28PM]

@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.

[Bob @ Aug 5th 2008 2:40PM]

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.

[chickenator @ Jul 26th 2008 1:33PM]

nice!

[Ayman @ Jul 26th 2008 1:40PM]

LAST

[Lazerface @ Jul 27th 2008 3:41AM]

perpetual fail

[JOSE @ Jul 26th 2008 1:40PM]

question is how many frequent flyer miles do i get out of it?

[L8on @ Jul 26th 2008 1:57PM]

chances are, if you have the money to ride this thing, frequently at that, mileage discounts wouldn't even matter to you...

[Wwhat @ Jul 27th 2008 9:41AM]

Oh the rich get orgasmic over every penny, make no mistake, that's how they got rich, by making money so important.

[SeanG @ Jul 26th 2008 1:47PM]

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.

[Ron Smith @ Jul 26th 2008 2:53PM]

Falcon 1 is launching monday, so watch that.

[Nathaniel @ Jul 26th 2008 3:11PM]

Falcon PUNCH!

[Sly Fox @ Jul 27th 2008 8:39AM]

Nathaniel= +1

[iEye @ Jul 26th 2008 1:51PM]

Pardon me but will this $200,000 trip be reflected upon my Frequent Flyer Miles? Much obliged...(fixes monocle and puffs on a pipe)

[Wwhat @ Jul 27th 2008 9:44AM]

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!

[Will @ Jul 26th 2008 1:53PM]

Why are commenters here so against pushing technology?

[SeanG @ Jul 26th 2008 2:19PM]

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.

[tydei8 @ Jul 26th 2008 3:27PM]

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.

[Vcize @ Jul 27th 2008 11:00AM]

@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.

[andres @ Jul 26th 2008 2:29PM]

@blu
tmi, i dont want to know you and your partners roleplaying plots.

[Pepsipoint @ Jul 26th 2008 2:32PM]

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...

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jul 26th 2008 2:39PM]

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.

[Josh L @ Jul 26th 2008 3:41PM]

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.

[Elora HRanma @ Jul 26th 2008 5:48PM]

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.

[OneLove @ Jul 26th 2008 2:40PM]

its SIR richard branson to you!

[i am not what i am @ Jul 26th 2008 2:54PM]

Pray to god that thing hanging in the middle never breaks off, or else it will be the next space station

[i am not what i am @ Jul 26th 2008 2:54PM]

Pray to god that thing hanging in the middle never breaks off, or else it will be the next space station

[D0mth0ma5 @ Jul 26th 2008 6:36PM]

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.

[HunterXI @ Jul 27th 2008 12:31PM]

Bahahaha. i am, that "thing in the middle" IS the spaceship.

[liv @ Jul 27th 2008 4:24PM]

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!

[Sharone @ Jul 26th 2008 2:59PM]

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.

[James @ Jul 26th 2008 3:18PM]

@ SHARONE

Whatever you do, don't go watch the new Batman movie.

[Dan @ Jul 26th 2008 3:39PM]

Either that was very poor sarcasm or you're an ignorant fool.

[Lazerface @ Jul 27th 2008 3:45AM]

"its just a flesh wound!"

[Kizorblade @ Jul 27th 2008 5:56AM]

Look, I'll have your leg!

[i am not what i am @ Jul 26th 2008 3:03PM]

why is engadget giving birth to multiple clones like a surrogate mother, and i never went that hard on you, did i...??

[Jash Sayani @ Jul 26th 2008 3:16PM]

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...........

[Patuxentbball @ Jul 26th 2008 3:32PM]

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.