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PayPal Galactic arrives to address the pressing issue of paying in space
Space tourism is coming, and it ain't gonna be cheap. The question is, how are the rich folks aboard such craft going to pay for... stuff? Since weighty cash is a non-starter, Paypal has unveiled the PayPal Galactic initiative with SETI and the Space Tourism Society to prepare for the future of extra-planetary commerce. It'll be launched today at noon EST via livestream (see the More Coverage link) by none other than astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who said that future trips to the moon or Mars will require "as many comforts from home as possible, including how to pay each other." PayPal worked with SETI to hatch the project, which will address meaty issues like a standard space currency, the risk of space fraud and dealing with customer support issues. (Sorry, space customer support issues.) We're pretty sure the conversation won't involve how to pay aliens, but as part of the Galactic launch, PayPal will also announce a new crowdfunding campaign on FundRazr to aid SETI. That'll help the ET-seeking outfit with its astrobiology and radio astronomy research and, hopefully, keep its dishes pointed skyward, so maybe one day we can horse-trade with the Ferengi.
Create your own space program: NASA quietly flogging bits of the Kennedy Space Center
The idea of private space tourism is certainly taking off, but at such high costs, only 1 percent of the 1 percent will be able to afford it. But, what if you could just do it all yourself? You're going to need some infrastructure to get you started, and luckily, NASA is reportedly looking to lease or sell off some Kennedy Space Center assets it no longer needs. While that list has not been made public, it apparently includes Launch Pad 39A, a landing strip, the Launch Control Center, and various other high-tech equipment and buildings from its late shuttle program. NASA also wants some quick deals before anything falls into disrepair, so if you're serious about your new space venture, you might be able to snag a bargain or two with some strategic low offers. Now you've just gotta wait for a cheap rocket deal to pop up on eBay and you're good to go.
Golden Spike unveils ambitious plans for $1.5 billion trips to the moon
Space tourism? Yeah, been there, doing that. But in the world of private travel, there's really no such thing as too much competition. Today, the newly formed Golden Spike Company took the wraps off of an exceedingly ambitious plan that would eventually see pairs of citizens hoisted up to the moon for a cool $1.5 billion. Before you brush it off as fancy dreaming, it's worth nothing that the firm's CEO previously worked for NASA, while it has amassed a lineup of advisers that includes Newt Gingrich, former NASA shuttle program manager Wayne Hale and Homer Hickam, a former NASA engineer. It clearly understands what it's up against in trying to make this a reality, but loads of questions remain -- there's no firm word on how it'll fund itself as it works up to that inaugural flight, and there doesn't appear to a pre-order link on its website. But hey, at least those recent Powerball winners now have something even they can't afford, right?
Richard Branson confirms Virgin Galactic's first space tourism flight will launch next year with him on board
Richard Branson has long said that he'd be on board Virgin Galactic's first commercial space tourism flight, and he's now confirmed that will take place sometime next year with his two adult children along for the ride (a bit of a delay from the company's original 2011 target). That trip will of course be made with the company's SpaceShipTwo craft, which has already completed a number of test flights, and which is capable of flying 100 kilometers (or just over 60 miles) above the Earth for a planned two and a half hour flight with five minutes of weightlessness. As the AP notes, some 529 people have already signed up for the $200,000 per person rides into space, each of whom will have to take part in a week of training prior to their trip. Bookings can still be made on Virgin Galactic's website.
Dark horse set to ride into space race, strapped to world's largest solid rocket booster
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) may not be on top of your betting card, but it has plenty of shuttle motor pedigree. To compete with the likes of SpaceX, Astrium and others, it's putting that technical savvy into its Liberty system to carry seven astronauts -- or tourists -- and cargo into low earth orbit. The huge 300-foot rocket and composite crew module would use ATK's solid rocket motor, originally designed for the ill-fated Ares 1, along with EAD's Ariane 5 engine, to become the heaviest lifter in NASA's fleet. Already knee-deep in a separate project, the Space Launch System designed to send Orion into deep space, ATK would like to wean NASA off it's pricy $63 million Russian ISS hitchhikes with a cheaper option that could be mission-ready in just three years. We've heard that kind of talk before, but if Liberty pulls it off, it could give our out-world aspirations a much needed ticket to ride.
Space travel coming to an airport near you? Maybe, if Skylon keeps its cool
Want to get from New York to Perth in under 4 hours, or maybe just head to outer space on a lark? Reaction Engines' "Skylon" mach 5 spaceplane might be your chariot -- or not. Its scheme of ingesting oxygen from the atmosphere instead of stowing it like a 50-year old modern multi-stage rocket sounds good, but the project's fate may hang on critical new tests. Failure is still a possibility, but if the high-speed, superhot gases can be cooled enough for the hybrid Sabre engines to work, and if Reaction Engines Limited can secure another round of funding, punching your space-ticket could soon be a very real possibility.
Record-breaking freefall advances space suit technology (video)
Jumping to Earth from the edge of space is no mean feat. Not only are you dropping like a stone, there's also the minor issue of your blood boiling as you do so. These are challenges daredevil Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team will be taking head-on -- literally -- with their record-breaking 120,000 foot "spacedive." To ensure Baumgartner lives to claim his honors, the Stratos team is using a custom spacesuit. It's designed by the David Clark Company, which made the first pressurized suits for World War II fighters, and includes a gas-filled bladder and integrated valve to maintain pressure over the various altitudes. While Baumgartner hopes to set new freefall distance, and time (5 minutes 30 seconds) records, there'll also be a lasting contribution to science, with team medical director Dr. Jonathan Clark hoping the developments can lead to advances in space travel and tourism. So in the future when you're opening your pretzels, looking down upon the Earth, raise a complimentary glass to Felix
Virgin Galactic, XCOR land suborbital contracts with NASA
Have $200,000 to spare for a ticket to space? NASA does, apparently, a few times over. Following the retirement of its Space Shuttle program, the US agency just announced two-year contracts with seven space flight companies, worth a combined $10 million. NASA will partner with Virgin Galactic, XCOR, and five other companies to bring engineers, scientists, and equipment to space, for a variety of experiments in low-gravity environments. The contract provides few financial implications for Virgin, which has already collected $55 million in deposits from future space tourists, but the company did acknowledge it as an "important milestone" in its efforts to grow beyond initial consumer offerings. Space Adventures, which serves as a low-cost carrier of sorts in the industry with its $102,000 flight, may be represented as well, through its partner Armadillo Aerospace -- so it's probably safe to assume that NASA won't be paying two large huge a pop to blast its personnel to space.
Space Adventures will shoot you (and your ego) to the moon for $150 million
Y'know, there are only so many pristine beaches and spectacular slopes one can see before terrestrial tourism becomes blasé. That's why Space Adventures -- who lets folks vacay in space via suborbital jaunts -- is offering to shoot you to the moon during your next work sabbatical. Amateur astronauts won't actually land on the lunar surface, of course, but their Soyuz spacecraft will get within 62 miles of it. To indulge in your lunar fantasy, it'll only cost you 150 million bucks, or roughly the GDP of a [insert small island nation here]. One of the two seats is already taken, but the company needs another would-be moon man or lunar lady before the trip's a go. The only thing stopping us (and everyone we know) from signing up is an empty bank account -- does Fastweb do spaceflight scholarships?
Russian firm hopes to have luxury space hotel in orbit by 2016
You know what they say: "another day, another hypothetical space hotel." Fans of the space tourism (mostly Lance Bass and a handful of gazillionaires) know that these things pop up every few years, so one can be a little skeptical about the plans recently announced by Russia-based Orbital Technologies to put a seven room guest house into orbit, where it would follow the same path as the International Space Station. While CEO Sergei Kostenko does mention things like well-appointed suites and food cooked up by celebrity chefs, it's not entirely clear that the firm has the funding to build the thing or even who will be doing the construction, although Energia (Russia's state-controlled spacecraft manufacturer) has been mooted as the project's general contractor. But this isn't merely a rich man's plaything -- as Kostenko points out, it could be used as a place for astronauts to flee to in case the ISS comes under alien attack (although he didn't say it in exactly those words).
Boeing plans to add space tourism seats to its CST-100 flights by 2015
Boeing has announced plans to add space tourism to its CST-100 -- or Crew Space Transportation-100-- low orbit flights by 2015. Operated by a partnership with Space Adventures, the flights will be able to carry up to seven passengers about 62 miles above Earth's surface, and the craft are currently being developed with the help of NASA.The vehicles could also be used as a ferry to get people to and from the various space habitats companies are working away at. There's no word on what the pricing of one of these journeys will look like, but trust us: Jared Leto will be able to afford one, while you probably will not.
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo completes first flight with crew on board
It still has a few more key hurdles to cross, but it looks like Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (a.k.a. the VSS Enterprise) is remaining on track for its first commercial flight sometime next year. The latest milestone is the spacecraft's first flight with a crew on board, which occurred on July 15th at Virgin Galactic's usual base of operations, the Mojave Air and Space Port. As with previous flights, however, SpaceShipTwo remained attached to the VMS Eve "mothership" for the duration of the flight, but it did stay aloft for more than six hours as the crew (including test pilots Peter Siebold, Michael Alsbury) went through a range of tests. Still no word on exactly when SpaceShipTwo will see its first solo flight but, barring any change in plans, that should be the next flight that takes place.
Newfangled spacesuit unveiled in New York
It's not everyday that we hear a "new" spacesuit has been designed and created, but that's just what we're hearing now. Two inventors, Nikolay Moiseev from Moscow and Ted Southern of Brooklyn are about to unveil a new spacesuit design they've come up with in their venture, Final Frontier Design. The pair outed their new design in New York City on Friday at the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center. They'd previously won a $100,000 NASA challenge to design a spacesuit glove -- one which boasts unprecedented dexterity and flexibility at the knuckles, and they've taken that design and spun it into an entire suit. The pressurized suit was shown off with the wearer able to play with a Rubik's cube, and the suit has been designed to withstand extremely high levels of pressure, as well. While the designers don't yet have an investor, they're hoping to attract them -- such as private companies such as Virgin Galactic, who are launching space tourism ventures as we speak.
Space Adventures undercuts Virgin Galactic -- announces $100,000 space tourism flight
Space tourism is something we here at Engadget have always been pretty fond of in theory -- it is the final frontier, after all -- but the prohibitive (exorbitant, extravagant, ridiculous) $200,000 price tag on a Virgin Galactic flight pretty much ended any small hopes we ever harbored of getting on one. So, would a reduction of about 50 percent be enough to get us to sign up? That's the question that Virginia-based Space Adventures is asking. The company's just announced it's going to offer flights into suborbital space through an exclusive agreement with Armadillo Aerospace, which is currently developing the rockets for the journeys. A trip with Space Adventures is set to cost just $102,000. We still can't afford it, but we're certainly glad to see the prices fall from insane to outrageous. So, what about you? Are you in?
Aabar Investments takes 32 percent stake in Virgin Galactic, we're still not cool enough to go to space
United Arab Emirates company Aabar Investments and today announced that it would be taking a 32 percent stake in Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism venture, a deal worth about $280 million dollars. Though the deal has yet to be approved by US regulatory agencies, Aabar, which is an investment vehicle for Abu Dhabi's government, said that it plans to build a spaceport in the capital city, and that it's committed an addition $100 million to fund satellite launch capabilites. The deal gives Aabar the regional rights to host tourism as well as scientific research flights. When asked how they felt about having Richard Branson hanging around their city, reps from Aabar said, "King Crazy? We love that guy!"[Image credit: David Schrubbe]
Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo caught mid-flight on video
In case you were wondering if Virgin Galactic's efforts at space tourism are still going strong, the company's released new footage from a recent test flight of its WhiteKnightTwo near its Mojave headquarters. Much longer and higher res than the last bit of video we had, it also provides some new aerial shots of it mid-flight. The craft's public debut will be a fly over at the Virgin Galactic Spaceport America groundbreaking ceremony next month, so until then, navigate your browser to after the break for the feature presentation.
Virgin offers up 25 million 'Velocity Points' to put you in space
We thought that Virgin might allow its most loyal patrons to exchange frequent flyer points for trips to space, and now it looks like they hope to jump-start the process with a seriously stacked contest. In Australia, the company is now counting 'Velocity Points' as entry to a drawing where you could win 25 million frequent flyer miles -- or exactly the amount you need to get yourself a space flight for two. Oh, and if you have no interest in ever looking like that chap pictured above, Virgin will also let you exchange them for a pair of Alfa Romeo vehicles, the chance to explore the planet "how you see fit" or a $170,000 shopping spree.Update: We got this story a little turned around initially, as you can see -- this is for a contest to win 25 million points, not an offer open to anyone who has 25 million points (though it's assumed if you've got those kinds of numbers, you can head to space too).[Via VideoSift]
Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo successfully completes brief maiden flight
It was short and mildly sweet, but Virgin Galactic has a lot to be relieved about. The outfit -- which is vigorously attempting to make space tourism a reality for the affluent -- saw its long-awaited WhiteKnightTwo craft complete an hour long maiden flight above its Mojave headquarters. If you'll recall, we were expecting the craft to take flight in September, though we can't say that a three month delay is all that unforgivable given the nature of the task. We suspect Buzz Lightyear would have an excellent closer for this one, so we'll just let you all imagine what quip he'd share.[Via Slashdot]Update: Video just surfaced of the WhiteKnightTwo up to its chivalrous antics, including landing and takeoff. No loop de loops or interstellar travel, sadly.[Thanks, Disco Stu]
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]
Google honcho Sergey Brin plans first-ever private trip to the ISS
Google co-founder Sergey Brin is about to join an extremely short list of space tourists, according to reports. The search engine-kingpin just dropped a $5 million dollar "investment" on the company Space Adventures, which all but guarantees him a seat on the outfit's next flight in 2011. The trip aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket will take Brin to the ISS in the first-ever private flight to the station (Ubuntu head Mark Shuttleworth has made the trip, though not on a private mission). The company stresses that the ride will be less about tourism and more about commercial exploration, with passengers bringing aboard experiments and taking part in flight operations. Now the only riddle left to solve is whether the last Cylon is Brin or Bezos.[Via Gear Diary]