Richard Branson's space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, plans to begin affordable private sub-orbital tours into space by 2009. Tickets are $200,000 and, for a minimum refundable deposit of $20,000, you can now make reservations.
Your Virgin Galactic flight will be on one of a fleet of vehicles based on aerospace engineer, Burt Rutan's design for SpaceShipOne, which made three flights into space, to altitudes greater than 65 miles, during 2004.
Making your reservation is going to get easier real soon as the Virgin Galactic spaceline is setting up a network of space travel agents around the world to advertise the experience and help you book your flight.
The first Virgin Galactic flights will take off from the Mojave Spaceport in the Californian desert. The spaceport is the home of Burt Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, is the birth place of SpaceShipOne, and is where the first ship in Branson's fleet, SpaceShipTwo, is being built. Later flights will operate out of the world's first, purpose built commercial spaceport, "Spaceport America" in New Mexico. Virgin intends to build a number of other spaceports around the world and is in the process of considering locations.
You will not have to undertake any arduous training after you book your flight. Branson says his vehicles can fly almost anyone to space safely after about 3 days of pre-flight preparation, bonding and training on site at the spaceport.
You will have to take a medical exam before you take your seat. However, Virgin Galactic says the exam will be "simple and unrestrictive" and they don't expect many medical restrictions to prevent people from flying.
Don't expect long lines at the Spaceport. Initially, there will be one flight per week. As operations progress, this will increase to one and potentially two flights per day.
And you won't be fighting for legroom. Virgin Galactic's
SpaceShipTwo will carry just six passengers along with its two pilots.
Your space flight will last approximately 2 1/2 hours - that's at a cost of over $1,300 a minute.
Your trip to space will be a two stage journey. From the spaceport to 50,000 ft, your spacecraft is attached to a specially designed jet carrier aircraft. Then your spaceship is cut loose and blasts off into space, at almost 2,500 mph--over 3 times the speed of sound, climbing to over 360,000 feet.
After you glide safely back to earth, you're presented with your astronaut wings at a party to celebrate your traveling beyond the internationally recognized definition of space -- 62.5 miles or 330,000 feet above earth's surface.
