SPACELINER

THE TRAVELER’S GUIDE TO INSPIRED PURSUITS
VIRGIN GALACTIC EDITION
BIRTH OF THE
SPACELINER
TICKET TO RIDE
Space Tourists Prepare
for Liftoff
8
SPACE TOURISM TAKES OFF
ARE YOU READY?
Steps to
Suborbital
Space
Birth of the
Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America, and Scaled
Composites bring astrotourism to reality.
By Michael Behar
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V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
Spaceliner
Dawn of a new way:
WhiteKnightTwo and its spaceship
at home in new mexico.
V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
2
T
he view from the Upham Hills,
a lowly cluster of wind-scoured knolls protruding about 500 feet from New Mexico’s high desert, encompasses mostly
hardscrabble flats. Three years ago, had
you looked north a dozen miles, you’d have seen nothing –
ranchland and perhaps a few roaming cattle. Today, however, a
humongous orb about the size of a Costco punctuates the bleakness. What looks like an alien saucer is, in fact, Virgin Galactic’s
new terminal and facilities at Spaceport America, the world’s first
commercial spaceport.
It’s the culmination, some say, of New Mexico’s manifest destiny, set forth in the 1930s when Robert Goddard, the preeminent
patriarch of rocketry, developed the first guided missiles at a
1. Air launch at 50,000 feet/9.47 miles:
Release from mother ship and launch
to Mach 4.
2. 328,000 feet/62.12 miles:
Kármán line, where passengers become
space travelers.
3. 361,000 feet/68.37 miles:
Virgin Galactic’s maximum planned altitude;
SpaceShipTwo feathers after rocket burn.
4. Atmospheric reentry in feathered position.
5. 70,000 feet/13.26 miles:
SpaceShipTwo defeathers into glider mode.
6. Glide home to Spaceport America.
360,000
Virgin Galactic’s
maximum planned
altitude
Kármán line:
Internationally
recognized boundary
of space
350,000
300,000
250,000
secret site in nearby Roswell. Since then, aerospace has played an
integral role in the state’s economy and identity, chiefly through
projects at White Sands Missile Range, the largest U.S. military complex, which abuts Spaceport America’s property.
Now, with the terminal in place, pavers finishing a 12,000-footlong runway, and 7,500 square miles of restricted airspace, the
countdown is on: Sometime in the near future, Richard Branson’s
Virgin Galactic will lift off from Spaceport America carrying six
passengers at a time aboard SpaceShipTwo, a rocket-powered aircraft
dreamed up by aerospace whiz Burt Rutan and the future-minded
engineers at his company, Scaled Composites.
A jet-powered mother ship, WhiteKnightTwo (also a Scaled Composites creation), will ferry the spaceship to its 50,000-foot launch
altitude. There, SpaceShipTwo will uncouple from WhiteKnightTwo,
2
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200,000
150,000
Highest manned
balloon flight
100,000
Concorde
50,000
Commercial airlines
VIRGIN GALACTIC FLIGHT PLAN
FEET:
1
4
5
6
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V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
Liftoff
Virgin Galactic wouldn’t exist without two people: Richard Branson, Virgin Group’s 61-year-old founder and chairman, and Scaled
Composites’ Burt Rutan, whom Branson describes as “the best
aviation genius in the world.” As a 19-year-old, Branson watched
Neil Armstrong walk on the moon and made up his mind “there
and then” to travel to space. He registered the trademark Virgin
Galactic in March of 1999, then set out on a world tour in search of
partners who could safely build and operate a reusable spaceliner.
“I met with every zany and mad scientist I could find who was
interested in rockets and space technology,” Branson has said.
The search was a bust until he met Rutan, with whom he eventually teamed up as a sponsor for Scaled Composites’ Ansari X
Prize-winning spaceship, later christened SpaceShipOne. In a
joint partnership with Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, Branson
invested $14 million to license Rutan’s technology and another
$95 million to build five passenger spaceliners over 15 years. “Of
all the businesses we’ve developed,” says Firth of Virgin Group’s
The players (from left):
Aerospace engineer Burt Rutan,
Virgin Galactic founder Richard
Branson, and SpaceShipTwo
in feathered descent.
forays into the music industry, telecommunications, hospitality,
and beyond, “Richard is very passionate about this one.”
When Scaled Composites test pilot Brian Binnie claimed the Ansari X Prize on October 4, 2004, Virgin Galactic got one giant step
closer to liftoff. Yet, along with redesigning the spaceship to accommodate six passengers and two pilots – an
undertaking that would double its size
to 60 feet – Rutan’s crew faced a host of
issues, among them an intense shaking Virtuoso’s accredited
during reentry and a need to reduce the space agents are
spacecraft’s speed to eliminate high tem- the exclusive travel
peratures on the fuselage. The solution: a advisors for Virgin
first-of-its-kind tail assembly that rotates Galactic in North
upward during reentry to create drag and America. Ticketed
stability, modeled after badminton shut- passengers receive
tlecocks that invariably fall slowly and perks such as invites
to Richard Branson’s
nose-first toward Earth.
Comfort touches include larger win- Necker Island and
dows and foldaway seats that provide pas- Spaceport America
sengers room to float around, along with and Virgin Group para posh interior cabin indicative of Virgin’s ties and events, plus
style. On the technical side, Scaled Com- more leading up to
posites revamped the cockpit with sim- the inaugural flight.
plified displays and control systems. “We Virgin Galactic flights
wanted it to be easier to fly so we could use from $200,000.
experienced airline pilots and not just test
pilots,” Firth explains.
As for the passengers those pilots will fly, Virgin tapped Virtuoso
as its exclusive travel partner in the Americas and trained select
travel advisors as accredited space agents. When it came time to
ensure the experience will be safe and comfortable for the typical
luxury traveler, Virgin Galactic’s first 100 ticket holders (including
GO
V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
(BURT RUTAN) MARK GREENBERG, (RICHARD BRANSON) THIERRY BOCCON-GIBOD,
(SPACESHIPTWO) CLAY CENTER OBSERVATORY
ignite a rocket motor and accelerate
to 2,500 miles per hour in a mere ten
seconds. At nearly 70 miles up, having exited Earth’s atmosphere, passengers will drift silently for about
six minutes in weightless bliss before
commencing the long, gentle glide
back to Spaceport America.
“We intend to put 500 people into space during our first year,”
says Jonathan Firth, Virgin Galactic’s director of operations and
projects. “That’s about as many as have gone up in the entire 50
years of manned spaceflight.” The entire sequence – from liftoff
to landing – constitutes the first-ever reusable commercial system for whisking astrotourists into space. It all sounds rather
sexy and adventurous, and at last count 520 cosmic pathfinders have put down deposits to reserve seats on SpaceShipTwo.
Even so, there have been setbacks. Scheduled flights were originally planned to begin a few years ago, but as Firth explains,
“Getting into space is hard, so it’s taken a bit longer than we
expected.” This is rocket science, after all.
4
Back to the Future: Virgin Galactic thus Far
January 2007:
Virtuoso is announced as
Virgin Galactic’s exclusive
travel partner in the Americas.
October 2004:
March 1999:
Richard Branson registers
the name Virgin Galactic.
1999
SpaceShipOne claims the
Ansari X Prize for two successful
flights to space in a week.
November 2004:
Virgin Galactic is born.
December 2005:
Spaceport America
announced as Virgin Galactic’s
world headquarters.
2004
Virtuoso CEO Matthew Upchurch, a Galactic Founder in the seat lottery for flights 2
through 16) and accredited space agents attended suborbital spaceflight training at the
National AeroSpace Training and Research
Center in Southampton, Pennsylvania.
Virgin wanted to make sure they could
cope with up to 6 gs that passengers will experience on SpaceShipTwo, Firth explains.
“We spun them on a centrifuge – the oldest
2005
person was 88 years old – and more than 95
percent did great.”
Touchdown
While Virgin Galactic’s trajectory steadily
progressed, Spaceport America broke
ground in 2009 with the spaceline as its
anchor tenant – a 20-year lease bringing
millions in economic development to the
state. The location has numerous benefits:
December 2007:
Branson and Virgin Galactic’s
first 100 ticket holders complete
suborbital space training at
NASTAR near Philadelphia.
2007
year-round sunshine, a noncorrosive climate, sparse population, restricted airspace,
and fuel savings from being 4,600 feet above
sea level, meaning roughly the first mile to
space is free. But until the first shovel went
down, there wasn’t any there there.
“We basically had to build a city in the middle of nowhere,” says Christine Anderson,
executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. “To get all the construction
WHERE IT BEGAN: ALL ABOUT EVE
(BRANSONS) STAN HONDA/AFP/ GETTY IMAGES
Eve Branson says it’s fitting that her son
Richard wanted to pay tribute to her with his
Virgin Galactic mother ship.
“If a boy is going to build a mother ship, he
definitely should [honor] his mother!” she says
with a laugh from her home in England. “But
when Richard then told me that he was putting my picture on all his spaceships, I thought,
‘Surely, he must be joking.’”
In fact, Sir Branson could not have been
more serious, using a photograph of Eve as a
young woman for the “Galactic Girl” figurehead. She embodies, he says, “the spirit of
adventure – a spirit that she, quite obviously,
passed on to me.”
Eve recalls that she was captivated by air
travel “almost from the day I saw my first air-
Adventurous genes: With his mother, Branson
unveils the Galactic Girl figurehead.
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V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
plane rumbling across the sky.” In the early
days of World War II, when she was just a teen,
she attempted to pass herself off as a boy so
she could enroll in the Royal Air Force glider
pilot training program. “They caught on to me
rather quickly,” she says, “but they did let me
stay.” After the war, she was determined to
make a career out of air travel. In those days,
because women were not allowed to be airline
pilots, Eve became an air hostess for a British airline that flew from England to Africa to
South America. “It was a dicey job,” she says.
“The old wartime planes were always crashlanding. And they were not pressurized, so
oftentimes passengers were sick and your
own ankles were swelling up. Still, it was very
romantic.”
March 2010:
July 2008:
Mother ship WhiteKnightTwo
is unveiled at an event for media
and confirmed Virgin Galactic
customers in the Mojave Desert.
December 2008:
WhiteKnightTwo’s first flight.
Attached to the mother ship,
SpaceShipTwo takes its first flight.
December 2009:
SpaceShipTwo unveiled at an
event in the Mojave Desert for
press and confirmed Virgin
Galactic customers.
2008
2009
October 2010:
SpaceShipTwo detaches from the
mother ship on its first glide flight.
Spaceport America dedicates its
nearly two-mile-long runway.
May 2011:
SpaceShipTwo completes its
first feathered flight.
October 2011:
Branson receives the keys to
the Virgin Galactic Gateway to
Space at a Spaceport America
dedication ceremony attended
by some 700 invited guests.
2010
materials there, we had to build a road.
We had to put in our own wells, our own
water treatment, power, and communications system.” Excavators also turned up
10,000-year-old artifacts, halting construction until archaeologists could survey the
find and give the go-ahead.
Today, the project is nearly complete.
“The facility is a showplace,” exults Anderson. “There’s a beautiful veranda on the top,
with an outdoor patio and a gorgeous view
of the San Andres Mountains. It’s very serene. Inside, we’re creating a visitor experience, designing activities and displays and
fun things for kids and families.”
But the real thrills should begin in 2013,
when the initial six Virgin Galactic passengers are expected to climb aboard for
SpaceShipTwo’s inaugural flight. Some four
decades after vowing to become a space
2011
May 2012: The FAA issues
SpaceShipTwo’s experimental
launch permit to progress to
rocket-powered test flights.
2012
traveler, Branson looks set to achieve his
wish, and he’s planning on it being a family
affair: “Myself, my children, and my mom
will go up on that first flight.”
➥ Watch a video of SpaceShipTwo’s test flights.
Advisor Insight
A few impressions of Spaceport America from Virtuoso’s Accredited Space Agents who were the first civilian
group to visit the site while it was under construction.
“
The design of the
spaceport is truly
out of this world:
The sleek, main
terminal looks as
though it came out
of a science fiction
novel, but what
impressed me the
most is the innovative green technology being used in
the construction.
– Jay Johnson
I’ve celebrated milestones
with Virgin Galactic each
year since 2006. When I saw
the runway and spaceport
for the first time with the sun
coming up, I was speechless.
It felt like I was part of the
future and history all at the
same time.
– Jennifer Campbell
To see Spaceport America
before any other group was
truly amazing. It’s going to
be sexy, beautiful, architecturally futurist, and
environmentally friendly.
Everything has been
thought out brilliantly –
the entrance away from
the runway, the walkway
over the spacecraft, and
what will probably be the
coolest bar on Earth, the
third-floor lounge.
– Lynda Turley Garrett
”
V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
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TickeT To RiDe
ThRee SPAce TouRiSTS PRePARe FoR liFToFF.
PETE TURNER/GETTY IMAGES
The FuTuRe iS NoW. Not the “let’s-all-zoom-around-in-jetpacks” future. The one that says “you want to go to space? here’s
how.” it’s official: in the next few years, the world’s citizen astronauts
will get their wings, care of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic – and
no matter who you are, in the Americas, you can only get a ticket
through Virtuoso’s accredited space agents. Virtuoso life spoke
to a few eager space tourists about their upcoming voyages into
suborbit. iNTeRVieWeD By DAViD hochMAN
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V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
GLENYS AMBE
BRISBANE,
AUSTRALIA
TICKET NO. 521
AGE: 57
FASHION RETAILER
Single,
NO CHILDREN
school buses. Japan had just hosted the
Olympic Games, so there was excitement
there. Then it was on to Hong Kong and the
Philippines. I was 12 or 13 at the time, and
what stands out was a sign at a restaurant in
Manila that said, ‘Please leave your firearms
at the door.’ Funny how some things stick.”
Why is this worth
$200,000 to you?
“This was an early 60th-birthday present
to myself. I read about Virgin Galactic in the
newspaper one morning and noticed that my
friend Greg Wilkin was the local agent. How
cool, I thought. Then I bumped into Greg at
a local coffee shop and said, ‘Well, fancy
meeting you here. I think I’ll sign up.’ ”
What was your family’s
first reaction?
“I would love my parents to be alive to share
the thrill. I know that, if my dad had been
alive and able, we would have gone on the
same flight. That would have been a truly
fabulous experience to share. I am thinking
of taking his photo up with me. My mother
would have gone, ‘Why?’ But dear old Dad
would have been arm in arm with me signing up. He had a passion for travel.”
What’s been the best
part of this experience?
“You’re part of something momentous. For
so many years, something like this was an
absolute dream, a crazy idea. But to see a
pie-in-the-sky idea become very concrete
and very real, it’s sensational!”
GEORGE FETTING
Glenys Ambe was the first Australian
to buy a space ticket, but then, she’s always been an early adopter. She ran a
personal-fitness-training business before it was trendy, got out of radio before
times got tough, and now runs a pair of
chic boutiques in Brisbane, Australia.
“I’ve always been someone who kind of
treads my own path,” she says.
Were you always interested
in space travel?
“Always! I’m old enough to remember the
first monkeys and dogs going into space,
and the only day I ever wagged school was
the day they walked on the moon in 1969. It’s
always been a dream.”
What’s been the trip of
your life so far?
“I’ve done a lot of travel. My dad used to love
going on cruises. In 1965, we did a cherry
blossom cruise to Japan out of Sydney. We
were the first passenger ship to visit Guam
since World War II, and they declared it a
school holiday so we could use the island
Are you looking forward
to weightlessness?
“I was a dancer for a long time, and you always strive to give that illusion of weightlessness. In those giant leaps, there’s a moment on the parabolic curve where you can
just about fake it. But to have about four
minutes of that! That will be awesome.”
What sort of snack would
you like to have in space?
“Jaffas! They’re like Maltesers. The inside
is chocolate, the outside is orange. You have
to throw them in the air and catch them in
your mouth. All the professional astronauts
do it.”
V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
8
December 7, 2009,
at the spaceship
Enterprise’s debut.
Josh Resnick made his fortune
creating best-selling video games like
Star Wars Battlefront and The Lord of
the Rings: Conquest. His travel tastes are
more erudite than adventurous, but for
this trip, he decided to up the ante. He’s
also bringing along a special companion.
Two tickets?
“Yes. I’m taking my mom [Rheta Resnick,
75, a Virtuoso travel advisor in Pacific Palisades, California]. I hadn’t planned on it, but
when I told her I was taking my best friend
and cousin, she said, ‘Oh, no. Take me.’ We
should be on the 19th flight.”
What made you say,
“I have to do this”?
“It’s not a midlife crisis. But I did hit age 40
and I was purposely looking for something
unique and life changing. Mainly because
I’m a wimp and don’t do shark cages, bungee
jump, or jump out of planes. I was fortunate
enough to have the funds, though, and this
experience fits the bill for being exciting
and different enough.”
Were you always a space buff?
“One of my earliest memories was watching
the first men walk on the moon. I remember
the whole family gathering around, though
I was very young. That didn’t lead to a particular interest in space, but I do cherish
that memory.”
(PORTRAIT) JOE SCHMELZER
How does it feel to be
called Astronaut Resnick?
“Anyone who travels above 50 miles gets
that title, but I hardly feel qualified. I would
never want to take away from real astronauts who train a lifetime for this. No, this is
just a wild adventure.”
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V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
You have young children.
Are they excited?
“They are pretty anxious, actually. I don’t
talk about it in front of them. My daughter
tells me to drive safe every time I get in the
car. I’m a single parent, so they’re nervous
about me not coming back.”
Any music you’d like
to listen to in space?
“I love ‘One’ by U2.”
How does this compare to your
usual travel experience?
“It’s unlike anything I have ever done. I’m
a city guy. A vacation for me is Paris and
What will you do
during zero gravity?
“Oh, I think I’m just going to stare with my
mouth open, taking it all in.”
Prague and London or Rome. This year, I
want to go to Turkey or Morocco and sink in
the rich culture.”
josh resnick
LOS ANGELES,
CALIFORNIA
TICKET NOs. 115, 116
AGE 43
VIDEO GAME DESIGNER
SINGLE FATHER,
THREE CHILDREN,
AGES 9, 11, AND 13
The minute Joe Hollingsworth
starts talking, it’s clear he’s enjoying life.
“I love to do original things,” he says in a
big Tennessee drawl. In addition to his
achievements as a property developer,
Hollingsworth has a long list of done-that’s,
from hang gliding and Formula One auto
racing to deep-sea fishing off the Great
Barrier Reef. Space? No problem.
Why is this worth
$200,000 to you?
“If it was just about the money, I wouldn’t
have done it. It’s for the adventure, for the
sheer joy. This is the ultimate trip. Fewer
than 1,000 humans have been into space. Just
thinking about that gives me chill bumps!”
Were you always interested
in space travel?
“I’ve always been intrigued by flight, certainly. I do hang gliding, mostly on tandem
kites. We landed on the beach in Ipanema
once. Boy, that was fun! I’ve taken flights
on biwings that did some flips. But I always
dreamed of seeing a major part of Earth’s surface from space. When I first read about Sir
Richard’s program, I flew out to Albuquerque
and signed up right there on the spot.”
What was it like meeting
Richard Branson?
“I spent a week on Necker Island as part
of this, and let me tell you, that is one funloving, humble guy for a billionaire several
times over. He’s terribly inquisitive and
kind. I was extremely impressed by him.”
What will you pack in
your carry-on bag?
“I haven’t thought about that. But, hey, I just
flashed on a vial of dirt I have. It’s from the
joe hollingsworth JR.
clinton,
AGE 59
tennessee
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPER,
ENTREPRENEUR
TICKET NO. 177
DIVORCED, TWO CHILDREN
plot in England where the name Hollingsworth originates way back in the Norman
Conquest. Heck, I’ll bring that.”
How are your children
reacting to having an
astronaut for a dad?
“They’ve been remarkably positive and
have, I think, a real sense of pride.”
How will this trip change you?
“Every trip changes me a little. As an entrepreneur, I’m always on the lookout for experiences to draw focus and inspiration from,
whether it’s a camel ride through the Sinai
Desert or rounding a curve in a Formula One
Dodge at 130 miles an hour. I can’t imagine
what doing somersaults at 360,000 feet
will do.”
V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
TAMARA REYNOLDS
What’s been the trip
of your life so far?
“I put together a 30-day cruise on a 118-foot
yacht with a crew of six for four couples.
We started at the bottom of the Caribbean
in Grenada and island-hopped our way
through 22 islands in a month. The fun part
was, three couples would get off every six
days, and three new couples would get on.
My personal highlight was the 11-mile pinksand beach in Barbuda. Jiminy!”
10
Spatial Ability
New contender for hub of the universe: Las Cruces,
New Mexico, which on October 17, 2011 officially
dedicated the “Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space”
at the world’s first purpose-built spaceport. More
than 800 guests, including 150 of Virgin Galactic’s
450-plus future astronauts, turned up to watch Sir
Richard Branson rappel down the building, stopping
midair to christen it. The environmentally friendly
hangar/concourse complex will eventually support
two mother ships and five spaceships, as well as
mission control, astronaut prep facilities, and space
for friends and families to celebrate upon return.
In addition, Virgin Galactic recently announced its
first commercial astronaut pilot, Keith Colmer.
The former U.S. Air Force test pilot was selected
from more than 500 applicants and joins chief
test pilot David Mackay as they put SpaceShipTwo
through its paces.
Virtuoso’s accredited space agents were on hand for the dedication.
A few thoughts on the big event:
• “Being involved with Virgin Galactic has stoked my passion for what’s possible
in travel and where it can go. Standing between this otherworldly spaceport and
its runway as WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo lifted off drove home the point
that this is no longer a dream or aspiration – commercial space travel is here,
and it is now.” – Craig Curran
• “I was overwhelmed to witness WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo fly overhead,
knowing that soon these aircraft will make history carrying my fellow observers into
space.” – Jeannie Cartier Sauleau
• “This was an amazing event for anyone not totally used to the celebrity circuit –
Sir Richard Branson and his children hanging off the side of the building while
dedicating it with Champagne, Kate Winslet enjoying the crowds and mingling
with us all. It was a blast.
When I first got interested in Virgin Galactic, I wasn’t sure it was ever really going
to happen. Looking back, it’s been a steady progression toward the commercialization of space. Future generations will view Virgin Galactic as a real pioneer and the
astronauts as the people who made it all possible.” – Michael Broadhurst
• “The building is unique – so inconspicuous from the road, yet so grand, with almost
180 degrees of floor-to-ceiling windows. Seeing the spaceship in their reflection
allowed us to reflect that we are that much closer to liftoff!” – Didi Johnson
➥ Watch the dedication on your smartphone.
Futuristic flyby: SpaceShipTwo and guests await
the crack of Champagne at Spaceport America.
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V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
Why Do iT yoURSelF?
Always wanted to be an astronaut? For those who propelled Virgin Galactic into the
top 10 “trips of a lifetime” in this year’s survey, Richard Branson is here to help –
as are your Virtuoso travel advisors, of course.
A foray to the final frontier.
Spaceship Enterprise’s
flight tests continue to
progress – it completed
its first “feathered”
flight in 2011 – as
do Virgin Galactic’s
plans to blast everyday
travelers into the stratosphere
soon. Launching from New Mexico’s
Spaceport America airfield, passengers will
rocket to 360,000 feet at three times the speed of sound for about five minutes of
zero gravity before descending back to terra firma.
THE EXPERIENCE
Preparing for your journey involves a medical qualification and several days’ instruction at the New Mexico
spaceport. Those who can’t wait (or want to get a
taste without the $200,000 ticket) can try one of the
exclusive NASTAR (National AeroSpace Training and
Research) Center experiences.
TRAINING
SPECIAL PERKS
Virgin Galactic’s future astronauts receive invites to VIP
parties, hosted trips to Branson’s private playground
on Necker Island and other exotic
locales, the chance to run on VirADVISOR TIP:
gin’s London Marathon team, and
“Everyone will enjoy all the perks,
parties, and add-ons. Virgin knows
unique access to other aviationhow to treat people.”
oriented events (past events
– Michael Broadhurst, Virtuoso
include spaceship Enterprise’s
Accredited Space Agent
rollout and the grand opening of
San Francisco’s Terminal 2).
GRAND TOTAL
BOTTOM LINE
From left: Enterprise’s wings “feather”
(which will allow gentle, heat-free reentries), and mother ship Eve with
Enterprise in tow.
ADVISOR TIP:
“NASTAR is a combination
of cockpit, wraparound
visuals, and true g-forces
that make the simulator an
exact representation of the
launch and reentry. The
countdown begins, you’re
thrust back in your seat,
and the g-forces, excitement, and noise build until
the motor stops. Then,
utter silence. Your muscles
relax and you feel weightlessness.”
– Joshua Bush, Virtuoso
Accredited Space Agent
Virgin Galactic flights from $200,000 and NASTAR experiences from $3,000.
Why not do it yourself? Because you can’t.
➥ Watch spaceship enterprise’s first “feathered” flight on your smartphone.
V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
12
8
Steps to suborbital space
Ready to take off? Here’s how.
Contact your travel advisor.
As Virgin Galactic’s official travel industry
partner in the Americas, Virtuoso’s
specially trained Accredited Space Agents
can book your seat on the spaceship.
STEP 1
Put down your deposit. A flight
will cost $200,000 – consider it the price
of a chance to make history. Deposits –
and seat assignments – vary depending on
your flight priority. “Founders” are the first
84 customers, and those paid-in-full seats
are essentially sold out; “Pioneers” claim
the next 400 seats, whose deposits range
from $100,000 to the full $200,000;
after those are “Voyagers,” who pay a ten
percent deposit.
STEP 2
Bask in benefits and bragging
rights. Fewer than 500 people have ever
gone into space to date, so you’ll be joining lofty ranks regardless of seat assignment. Once you’ve been confirmed, you’ll
receive a welcome pack, gift, and insider
updates, including invitations to events
(such as the recent spaceship unveiling in
December).
flights will not commence until rigorous
safety checks and test flights (and, of
course, U.S. regulatory approval) have
been met. The last phase of flight testing
to go will be rocket-powered flights
with passenger flights beginning soon
thereafter.
STEP 5 Participate in preflight training.
Though there’s no age limit (the oldest customer is 84), passengers must
undergo medical exams to assess their
fitness to fly. At the three-day astronaut
experience at Spaceport America in New
Mexico, you’ll be issued a Philippe Starckdesigned space suit, undergo g-force and
possibly weightlessness training, and
learn more about your mission.
STEP 3
Be patient. This is not a race,
says Burt Rutan, founder of the aerospace
company Scaled Composites, which
Branson tapped to build Virgin Galactic’s
mother ships and spaceships. Commercial
STEP 4
13
V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
Prepare for takeoff. While
friends and family await your return
in the spaceport’s lounge, you’ll board
the sleek spaceship with five fellow
passengers and two pilots. Don’t
worry – every seat has a window view.
The spaceship is berthed to the Eve
mother ship (named for Branson’s
mother), a twin-boom jet airplane
made of 100 percent carbon composite material. After takeoff you’ll fly to
50,000 feet and hear a countdown.
When the spaceship releases and its
hybrid rocket motor fires up, it will
STEP 6
accelerate into a vertical climb; in ten
seconds you’ll reach Mach 1 (the speed
of sound) and in 30 seconds you’ll be at
Mach 3.4 – literally faster than a speeding bullet. After 90 seconds‚ the pilots
will cut the motor and the spaceship will
continue to climb to its peak altitude of
360,000 feet – 68 miles above Earth.
Enjoy the view.
Six miles above the space border, you’ll
experience total silence – and zero g,
floating weightlessly throughout the cabin
for the next four to five minutes. Through
the windows, look back at Earth and see
our planet’s curvature meeting the total
blackness of space. Astronauts report
humbling awe and a sense of responsibility as they comprehend the frailty of the
thin blue line that is our atmosphere and
the magnitude of our universe.
STEP 7
Return to your seats – and an
entirely new perspective. Pointing back
toward Earth, the spaceship embarks on
a thrilling 90-second reentry, peaking at
nearly 6 gs. The spaceship’s wings, which
have been neatly “feathered” up throughout the flight, will rotate back to their
usual position to glide you safely back to
Earth to collect your astronaut wings. One
thing is quite certain: You will exit that
spacecraft a changed person.
STEP 8
THE SUBORBITAL SPACE EXPERIENCE
“If you haven’t signed up
you don’t know what you are missing”
– Mario Ferriera, Future Astronaut
EXCLUSIVE ASTRONAUT BENEFITS
LAUNCH DAY
From the moment you book you’re treated like a VIP.
• High degree of involvement in the project as it progresses
• Access to exclusive milestone project events
• Invitations to exclusive trips with the Virgin Galactic team
• Access to dedicated Virgin Galactic astronaut website
Astronauts spend three days preparing for their journey
at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
• Photos with fellow astronauts and guests
• Guests proceed to viewing area – live feed to view
astronauts in space
• Astronauts board Space Ship 2 – prepare for takeoff
• Take off!
• Return safely to earth
• Astronaut wings presentation ceremony
• Astronaut de-briefing
• Splash-down party for astronauts and guests
LAUNCH MINUS 3
LAUNCH PLUS 1
• Astronauts check into the Astronaut Hotel
• Relax with the flight crew and fellow passengers
• DVD presentation of personal flight experience
• Process memories that will last a lifetime
LAUNCH MINUS 2
GLOBAL IMPACT
• Meet the flight team
• Final medical checks
• Spacesuit fitting
• Dress rehearsal inside Space Ship 2
• Flight training/launch simulation
• G-force training
By participating, you are shaping the future of cosmic travel,
paving the way for development of safer, less expensive, and
more environmentally-friendly space tourism.
THE COUNT DOWN
• Long term plans include the development of technology
for hypersonic point-to-point flights that would enable
people to travel across the world in just a few hours with
minimal environmental impact.
LAUNCH MINUS 1
• Zero-Gravity and re-entry training
• “Personal Communications Console” training
• Final flight de-briefing
CATEGORY
SEAT PRIORITY
DEPOSIT (USD)
BALANCE (USD)
NOTES
FOUNDER
1 to 84 (draw)
$200,000
NL
SOLD OUT!
PIONEER
85 to 499
$200,000
NL
ALMOST OUT! Priority allocated first
come/first served. Can expect to fly in
Year One.
VOYAGER
500 +
$20,000
$180,000
Priority allocated first come/first served.
Can expect to fly from Year Two.
➥ Take a peek behind the scenes and meet the people who are
making history building the world’s first commercial spaceline.
V I R G I N G A L ACT I C E D I T I O N
14
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