First look at Virgin Galactic's SubSpaceShip

Zoombie

Dragon of the Multiverse
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 24, 2006
Messages
40,775
Reaction score
5,947
Location
Some personalized demiplane
http://singularityhub.com/2011/08/13/a-first-look-inside-virgin-galactic’s-commercial-spaceship/

virgin_galactic.jpg


IT'S GOOFY LOOKING!

But, the basic idea is similar to others we've seen: Ride into high altitudes with a plane and shoot off from there.

Apparently, this thing can get to suborbital altitudes. That's nice.

But it's not quite the moonshot.

That's why I'm still calling it a SSS: Sub-Space Ship.

Neat, though!
 

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
20,322
Reaction score
3,513
Location
Transcending Canines
Just what I always wanted - a ship to fly through sub-space! :D

But no, this isn't the "first look at" the thing. I recall the flights a few years ago of SpaceShipOne that won the X-Prize, it looked just about exactly like the pic you have there.

But it's the first look "inside" as the Singularityhub headline says.

And yeah, suborbital flights aren't good for anything but expensive and short-lived joyrides. But maybe it'll help fund a privately-nade ship that'll actually take someone into orbit. I know of at least one big first-world nation that would pay tens of millions of dollars per astronaut to get people up to the ISS and back down safely. I hear Russia charges only $50 million per astronaut. Maybe this Branson guy can undercut them.
 

Don

All Living is Local
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
24,567
Reaction score
4,007
Location
Agorism FTW!
Newborn babies are generally goofy-looking and not very competent either. Give it time to grow up before you judge it.

And because of the mention by ben (and the sign :D), here's a picture of SpaceShipOne after its first flight.



2438942790100527759S600x600Q85.jpg
 

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
20,322
Reaction score
3,513
Location
Transcending Canines
I immediately took this screenshot of SpaceShipOne when I saw that CNN had used the "O" word in describing its second flight: