Virgin Galactica is launching at 10:30 a.m. this morning.

Come on, wake up!
 
A billionaire going on a joy ride. Whoopee!
 
Weird, I just totally missed this thread yesterday.

I was pretty aware of what Virgin Galactic was working on, but never watched too closely. It’s a near ship they have.

The feather apparatus is really clever…..even if they had some issues figuring it out and lost a pilot because of it in an earlier test.

It’s just such a quick ride. It’s like a decent length roller coaster. I would totally do it if $250k was chump change to me for the experience.

But, as a space geek I don’t feel there is much more to watch here going forward. What SpaceX is up to is far more interesting.
 
I watched the video. That woman's voice was pure torture.
 
Musk, Virgin and soon, Bezos. The Rushmore of civilian space travel. It took 60 years since government space flight. Imagine the next 60 years. My grandkids have a chance to do what I dreamed of as a 10 year old.
 
Rich people and their money. What about starving children in Africa and poor water conditions in California?
 
Handicappers said:
Rich people and their money. What about starving children in Africa and poor water conditions in California?
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Billy Crystal Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
Kburjr said:
Musk, Virgin and soon, Bezos. The Rushmore of civilian space travel. It took 60 years since government space flight. Imagine the next 60 years. My grandkids have a chance to do what I dreamed of as a 10 year old.
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Despite the media hype, none of these players has done anything groundbreaking. Landing rockets vertically is something NASA had on the drawing board from the beginning, but they didn't have the computing power to control the spacecraft the way it can be done today. The USAF was dropping rocket powered craft from large mother ships 70 years ago. Re-usable spacecraft that launch via rocket propulsion and glide back like an airplane was done 40 years ago.

At some point a number of wealthy civilians are going to die on one of these excursions and the safety protocol (or lack of) will be under intense scrutiny slowing the race to a crawl.
 
Rex Racer said:
Despite the media hype, none of these players has done anything groundbreaking. Landing rockets vertically is something NASA had on the drawing board from the beginning, but they didn't have the computing power to control the spacecraft the way it can be done today. The USAF was dropping rocket powered craft from large mother ships 70 years ago. Re-usable spacecraft that launch via rocket propulsion and glide back like an airplane was done 40 years ago.

At some point a number of wealthy civilians are going to die on one of these excursions and the safety protocol (or lack of) will be under intense scrutiny slowing the race to a crawl.
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The difference is that private companies have gone there, not the government. Access to space has always been a military-government program. This opens the door to space to the public.

"One s.all step for Virgin, a giant leap for mankind."
 
Kburjr said:
The difference is that private companies have gone there, not the government. Access to space has always been a military-government program. This opens the door to space to the public.

"One s.all step for Virgin, a giant leap for mankind."
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Private companies have been launching rockets and getting satellites in to orbit for years.
 
Kburjr said:
Look, Rex, you can see it any way you want, I'm just glad that I lived long enough to see it.
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Meh, it's not really a big deal to me. We've been going to space pretty much my whole life and the next big deal will be to colonize another one of the rocks floating around out there.
 
Rex Racer said:
Meh, it's not really a big deal to me. We've been going to space pretty much my whole life and the next big deal will be to colonize another one of the rocks floating around out there.
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Colonizing by who? The military or the private sector?
 
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