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September 27, 2004
Branson Announces 'Virgin Galactic'
Fancy a trip to space? Adventurer/billionaire/businessman Richard Branson has decided to add space travel to the list of services the Virgin Group of companies offers.
Branson has signed a deal with American Mojave Aerospace, the team behind SpaceShip One (the clear leader in race to claim the Ansari X-Prize) to build five spaceliners for his new venture called "Virgin Galactic" (a nice play on the name of his first airline - Virgin Atlantic).
The new five-passenger spacecraft, to be called the Virgin SpaceShip (or VSS for short) will take passengers to an altitude of 100km and treat them to three minutes of weightlessness. Trips will cost about 100,000 British Pounds or 230,000 Canadian Dollars.
The final design of VSS is expected to be signed off next year with building and testing to follow before any commercial flight can take place.
In other space news:
One of Canada's X-Prize contenders has delayed it proposed launch. The da Vinci Project team has been forced to hold its countdown due to the availability of a components for their spacecraft. da Vinci, is the closest competition to the American Mojave team and their craft SpaceShip One
Meanwhile, American Mojave Aerospace will begin the final leg of their journey to the X-Prize. They will make their first of two required flights on Wednesday at about 9:00 AM (EDT) from the Mojave Desert. The flight will be webcast live on the X-Prize web site.
Posted by maxthecat on September 27, 2004 at 08:18 AM
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