Up until recently, space travel has been limited to the privileged few associated with NASA or other international space programs. The employees at Virgin Galactic are working hard to quickly change that.
History of Human Space Travel
In 2004, Sir Richard Branson, a highly successful British entrepreneur, added another company to the Virgin Group conglomerate: Virgin Galactic. The focus of the company is to commercialize space travel so that anyone (provided they meet health and pocketbook requirements) can take a trip into the final frontier.
Since the first human trip into space in 1961, there have only been approximately 500 people to make the trip. George Whitesides, president and CEO of Virgin Galactic, has stated that the company's goal was to match that number within its first full year of commercial operation.
Progress of Virgin Galactic
As of now, Virgin Galactic is in the testing phase for SpaceShipTwo, a suborbital spacecraft designed to safely carry tourists. Although no official timeline has been released, it is expected that SpaceShipTwo will carry its first commercial passengers at some point in 2011. The spacecraft is designed to hold six passengers and two flight crew members. The base of operation for SpaceShipTwo will be Spaceport America, located in southern New Mexico.
To date, hundreds of future space tourists have signed up, made their deposits, and gone through their required pre-flight training. Now, they are simply waiting for all test flights to be finished and commercial travel to begin.
How much does it cost to travel to space?
The current cost of a ticket is $200,000, with a minimum deposit of $20,000 required.
While this price is clearly not within the range of affordability for most Americans, it is a step in the right direction. Previously, one of the only options for commercial space travel was through the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Although prices are not publicly released, it has been rumored that a flight aboard this craft runs anywhere from $30-40 million. At approximately, 0.5% of the cost of a Soyuz flight, Virgin's 200k price tag all of a sudden doesn't sound as bad.
But they're not stopping there.
In a recent interview with George Whitesides, he discussed the company's goal of making space tourism even more affordable. The development and testing of space craft requires a substantial amount of money, which is why, currently, the flights are so expensive. As the company starts flying more and more tourists, along with the growing competition in the field of space tourism, prices are expected to fall significantly. The company has a goal to eventually lower the cost of a ticket to around the price of a new SUV. Within just a few years, tickets are expected to run for approximately $30,000.
David Pesek - Hello, my name is David and I currently attend the University of Central Florida. I write unique, eye-opening articles on a wide range of ...
