My business hero Sir Richard Branson unveiled White Knight 2 today: the first spacecraft developed for tourism that literally takes one out of this world - 62 miles up in fact. Yep. We are going to space. Pack lightly and don't expect a movie.
Virgin Galactic is a company founded by SRB in 2004. Its mission is to be the first private organization to bring the public to suborbital heights. At a price of $200,000 per person, non-astronauts can catapult to space, experience weighlessness for 6 minutes, vomit, and then come screaming back into the atmosphere for landing two and a half hours later. That's only $1,333/minute. From a base in New Mexico, the White Knight 2 booster will take the actual passenger craft, SpaceShipTwo, about 50,000 feet up where a hybrid rocket will separate the two and launch the the craft into space. How awesome is that!
In spite of my freakish fear of heights, my affinity for outer space saga (read: Star Trek) and my fetish for all things Virgin (huh??!) is compelling enough to put this on my list of Things I must do before I die. I will do whatever I can to experience this. How many Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Nigeria flights must I travel on to subsidize this cost with frequent flyer points? I hear Lagos is just ducky this time of year. Hell, I'd go back to buying CD's at the Megastore if I thought it would help. Indeed the $200,000 price tag is steep, but the chance to go into outer space is truly once-in-a-lifetime.
Who wants to come along?
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