Considering how VCR sales were boosted once porn became so freely available, "out of this world sex" might very well become literal. You KNOW you're being hit on by a rich person if they offer to pay your way on a "1000-mile-high club".
A $200,000 ticket for a 2 and a half hour flight through the atmosphere that will culminate to just a few minutes spent in "space" (and barely sub-earth orbit might I add) is out doing NASA?
Unless your wealthy, I highly doubt that people are going to put up their houses to spend a few minutes in sub-earth orbit.
NASA, like 99.9% of government agencies, could not blow it's self out of a wet paper bag. Here, Virgin has a limited amount of money and has developed a way to put people in space without firing a landing craft off the back of external fuel tanks. Can't you see the difference? Finally, NASA has some competition!
That's like saying cars are going to have to compete with horse and carriages since the latter doesn't need gasoline and won't expel pollutants.
When astronauts go into space for a mission (repair/overhaul/research) it's usually for days or weeks (not just a FEW MINUTES like Space Ship Two) and they need to carry a sufficient payload for such (tools, food,water,oxygen, and lots of other equipment).
This stuff weighs ALOT that's why the extra fuel is needed.
All NASA is, is another government black hole that taxpayers throw money into. The difference between NASA and Virgin is like the difference between the US Post Office and Federal Express. One blows money, inefficient, cumbersome, etc. and the other does more for less money, makes a profit and doesn't require infusion of taxpayer money. You don't get much bang for your buck when it comes to the government running anything.
Space exploration, back in the day, was expensive and required cumbersome bureaucracy to get anything done. Private space exploration is possible today because of the technology that couldn't have been developed any other way. Kind of like how FedEx (and others) couldn't exist without the USPS laying the groundwork.
In a way, ALL private space exploration has to follow a development path. VirginGalactic is still in the early stages, and they need a reliable source of income before they can do more research. Space tourism, for now, is that source. Later, once they can do heavy cargo lifting (like, say, satellites and such), new possibilities will become available. I'm looking forward to it.
Space travel IN GENERAL is still in it's infancy (and will be for a long time) and will never be cheap for the foreseeable future. It's not comparable to terrestrial travel.
True, but if no investments are ever made, then nothing can improve. Air travel has become the transport method of choice for people who have to cross long distances, especially over water, but it took a lot of time and money and effort to build the air-travel industry. Space travel is still in the "breaking eggs" stage, but the omelet's a-coming...
If anything Virgin should of invested in mass driver development.
Launching a spacecraft from a mass driver (especially from the Moon where the low gravity would pose less of a technological challenge) would be infinitely cheaper AND faster, for space travel throughout the Solar System (it would also make space tourism financially practical for all people).
The main obstacle preventing one from being built is cost.
I'm with you there, but that's in the longer term. A mass-driver requires phenomenal amounts of energy, and setting up a power station capable of supplying the juice for an Earth-based system in turn requires phenomenal amounts of money and R&D. Rockets may be crude, slow and inefficient, but it's what we can get "off the shelf", right now. Virgin (and many others) probably have mass-driver investments, they just haven't paid off yet. And we've still got to get back to the Moon...
Government, in this case, means that NASA has a lot of bureaucratic barriers hindering obvious progress, mostly to prevent huge disasters. The most cynical truth: smaller, private agencies can fail without killing thousands or hobbling the national economy. My real problem with NASA is a failing ability to replace critical satellites (GPS, communications, etc.) That will be a disaster even worse than the current economic recession.
The goal is letting anyone into the "game" of going into orbit, rather than only allowing national governments or those with influence over same (meaning international corporations). Sort of like letting anyone make components for PCs, rather than forcing users to buy exclusively on the manufacturer's terms.
They are, but not for this reason. Some folks think that NASA is hiding all kinds of fascinating stuff from the moon landings and other examinations. Cheap and public access to space will blow all those secrets out of the vaults.
Brandson is going with his family. This thing is so rad and I only hope nothing goes wrong because if something bad happens, all the sheeple statists are going to say, "That's why only NASA should have any business in space. Hurumph!"
I just watched a news report on the unveiling of SpaceshipTwo, and was disgusted by it. They were banging on about Branson, making it sound as if this was entirely his project, and even said that he had designed both this craft and SS1!!
All this guy did was provide the funding, there was no mention of Burt Rutan and his genius team at Scaled Composites, who designed and built both craft, losing staff to a tragic accident along the way.
That is why the mother plane has two bodies? To see your friend off?
Bigalinjapan 1 year ago
Comment removed
1987bugsy 1 year ago
Comment removed
1987bugsy 1 year ago
Considering how VCR sales were boosted once porn became so freely available, "out of this world sex" might very well become literal. You KNOW you're being hit on by a rich person if they offer to pay your way on a "1000-mile-high club".
deputyindigo 2 years ago
NASA..is pissed
Dadood24 2 years ago
Private enterprise can outdo any government agency by a thousand fold. NASA must be fuming.
czubspenx 2 years ago
Is that why all the banks went to the government for help?
imrubberandyoureglue 2 years ago
How exactly is NASA being outdone?
A $200,000 ticket for a 2 and a half hour flight through the atmosphere that will culminate to just a few minutes spent in "space" (and barely sub-earth orbit might I add) is out doing NASA?
Unless your wealthy, I highly doubt that people are going to put up their houses to spend a few minutes in sub-earth orbit.
18CaStRaDoMiS89 2 years ago
NASA, like 99.9% of government agencies, could not blow it's self out of a wet paper bag. Here, Virgin has a limited amount of money and has developed a way to put people in space without firing a landing craft off the back of external fuel tanks. Can't you see the difference? Finally, NASA has some competition!
czubspenx 2 years ago
How is that competition????
That's like saying cars are going to have to compete with horse and carriages since the latter doesn't need gasoline and won't expel pollutants.
When astronauts go into space for a mission (repair/overhaul/research) it's usually for days or weeks (not just a FEW MINUTES like Space Ship Two) and they need to carry a sufficient payload for such (tools, food,water,oxygen, and lots of other equipment).
This stuff weighs ALOT that's why the extra fuel is needed.
18CaStRaDoMiS89 2 years ago
All NASA is, is another government black hole that taxpayers throw money into. The difference between NASA and Virgin is like the difference between the US Post Office and Federal Express. One blows money, inefficient, cumbersome, etc. and the other does more for less money, makes a profit and doesn't require infusion of taxpayer money. You don't get much bang for your buck when it comes to the government running anything.
czubspenx 2 years ago 2
Space exploration, back in the day, was expensive and required cumbersome bureaucracy to get anything done. Private space exploration is possible today because of the technology that couldn't have been developed any other way. Kind of like how FedEx (and others) couldn't exist without the USPS laying the groundwork.
deputyindigo 2 years ago
In a way, ALL private space exploration has to follow a development path. VirginGalactic is still in the early stages, and they need a reliable source of income before they can do more research. Space tourism, for now, is that source. Later, once they can do heavy cargo lifting (like, say, satellites and such), new possibilities will become available. I'm looking forward to it.
deputyindigo 2 years ago
Space travel IN GENERAL is still in it's infancy (and will be for a long time) and will never be cheap for the foreseeable future. It's not comparable to terrestrial travel.
18CaStRaDoMiS89 2 years ago
True, but if no investments are ever made, then nothing can improve. Air travel has become the transport method of choice for people who have to cross long distances, especially over water, but it took a lot of time and money and effort to build the air-travel industry. Space travel is still in the "breaking eggs" stage, but the omelet's a-coming...
deputyindigo 2 years ago
If anything Virgin should of invested in mass driver development.
Launching a spacecraft from a mass driver (especially from the Moon where the low gravity would pose less of a technological challenge) would be infinitely cheaper AND faster, for space travel throughout the Solar System (it would also make space tourism financially practical for all people).
The main obstacle preventing one from being built is cost.
18CaStRaDoMiS89 2 years ago
I'm with you there, but that's in the longer term. A mass-driver requires phenomenal amounts of energy, and setting up a power station capable of supplying the juice for an Earth-based system in turn requires phenomenal amounts of money and R&D. Rockets may be crude, slow and inefficient, but it's what we can get "off the shelf", right now. Virgin (and many others) probably have mass-driver investments, they just haven't paid off yet. And we've still got to get back to the Moon...
deputyindigo 2 years ago
Government, in this case, means that NASA has a lot of bureaucratic barriers hindering obvious progress, mostly to prevent huge disasters. The most cynical truth: smaller, private agencies can fail without killing thousands or hobbling the national economy. My real problem with NASA is a failing ability to replace critical satellites (GPS, communications, etc.) That will be a disaster even worse than the current economic recession.
deputyindigo 2 years ago
The goal is letting anyone into the "game" of going into orbit, rather than only allowing national governments or those with influence over same (meaning international corporations). Sort of like letting anyone make components for PCs, rather than forcing users to buy exclusively on the manufacturer's terms.
deputyindigo 2 years ago
They are, but not for this reason. Some folks think that NASA is hiding all kinds of fascinating stuff from the moon landings and other examinations. Cheap and public access to space will blow all those secrets out of the vaults.
deputyindigo 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Last night my best friend Jenny and I took some pictures after we got out of the shower... they were way hot!
jennbootz349 2 years ago
Brandson is going with his family. This thing is so rad and I only hope nothing goes wrong because if something bad happens, all the sheeple statists are going to say, "That's why only NASA should have any business in space. Hurumph!"
mrmacboo1 2 years ago 2
I just watched a news report on the unveiling of SpaceshipTwo, and was disgusted by it. They were banging on about Branson, making it sound as if this was entirely his project, and even said that he had designed both this craft and SS1!!
All this guy did was provide the funding, there was no mention of Burt Rutan and his genius team at Scaled Composites, who designed and built both craft, losing staff to a tragic accident along the way.
cumulonimbus71 2 years ago 2
@cumulonimbus71 Untrue. As corporation leaders go, he's very hands-on. He bought spaceship one, and based the design for spaceship two on it.
wrylie188 1 year ago
"The officiall unveil at 10am GMT Tuesday Dec 10..."
I'm sorry to inform the geniuses at Virgin Galactic that December 10th is not a Tuesday but a Thursday.
How many other little details like that have been fudged or mixed up, I wonder?
Still, she's a beautiful bird and I would go in a second if they comped me (hint hint)
belisariusorb 2 years ago
its simply amazing but if something were to go wrong tisc tisc...why isnt brandson going? after all its his project
the804kid 2 years ago
branson *is* going, you stupid fucktard
gucker07 2 years ago