When we were growing up, he always dreamt of becoming an astronaut; unfortunately, we grew up in the era before laser eye surgery and nearsightedness runs in our family. Now that "space tourism" has become a reality, though, he can finally take that space voyage.
With a planned inaugural launch in 2008, Virgin Galactic is currently planning to offer passenger service on its first spaceship, the VSS Enterprise (SpaceShipTwo). A ticket will cost the first 100 people $200,000; the next 900 people will pay between $100,000 and $175,000, and after that, tickets will be priced at $20,000. The company has been selling tickets since the middle of 2005. It will be the first private space tourism company to regularly send civilians into space.
Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic's spaceport and operational headquarters, will be built in New Mexico. In the meantime, initial flights will be launched from the Mojave Spaceport in the Mojave Desert of California. The spaceship will hitch a ride up to around 50,000 feet attached to the mothership, a specially designed carrier aircraft, where it will be released and ignite its own hybrid rocket.
Then we—I mean, my brother—will begin a climb from 50,000 feet to over 360,000 feet. This climb takes about 90 seconds. The flight is scheduled to last approximately two and a half hours; the maximum speed will be around 2,500 MPH, or faster than three times the speed of sound.
Shortly before the ship reaches its maximum altitude, it will fold its wings (this is called feathering) to prepare for reentry into the earth's atmosphere. The earth's gravitational pull will draw it back in. The feathered wings act as air brakes against the resistance of the upper atmosphere. When the craft is at approximately 60,000 feet, the spaceship's wings are reconfigured into their original position, and the passengers will glide back to the spaceport.
Before he travels into space, my brother will go through three days of preflight preparation, bonding, and training onsite at the spaceport. While they have not yet been set, preparatory exercises could include g-force training in a centrifuge and zero-g training on a parabolic flight. Medical and spaceflight experts are currently developing a detailed preparation program.
The whole thing really does sound cool.
