v9.1 - Virgin Galatic

Morning folks,

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Who here has ever watched a full episode of Star Trek? I remember growing up and how our TV was somehow always watching Star Trek in one form or another. It was only a matter of time before I myself would gain a liking to the show and watch it myself.

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Well, I don''t really want to talk about Star Trek as a show, but as an idea which has taken ahold of the world and placed ideas in people''s heads. How many here watched the launch of the SpaceShipOne project? Basically, there was a contest going on last year where people were allowed to design a ship which had to break the Earth''s atmosphere and enter space. Not only was the ship supposed to make it to space, but it was supposed to make it back to earth, land, and be ready for another flight within 7 days of landing. There were several entries from all over the world, but the one who won ended up signing a deal with Virgin Airlines to create a passenger model which would then take people up into space and back down again for a hefty fee.

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The company is called Virgin Galactic and they have already begun work on a couple of these ships which will take people into space for a moment of weightlessness and then come back down to earth. What is the price tag attached to this adventure? To start (in 2007) the initial price will be high to offset some of the costs of developing this opportunity. Since these ships are reusable and have less than a 7 day turn around for liftoff again, once they''re built, they only need to maintain and fix if there are any issues. The cost to go up in one of the first flights of these beast will cost you around $215,000 US.

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So what does this have to do with Star Trek? Well, basically, Virgin is going to be putting the prefix VSS on all their new space crafts. Their very first craft is currently called SpaceShipTwo which will be renamed to Enterprise when it is completed. The second ship they are working on will also be named after a Star Trek ship; the VSS Voyager. Interesting? Not really, but I thought I''d share it since I thought it was SORTA interesting. :)

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What does this mean for us? At the moment, nothing. These flights aren''t even scheduled to take place until sometime in 2007 or 2008. Of course, the first flights will have mostly celebrities in it like William Shatner and other Space Stars. At last check, Virgin had over 100 people interested in taking this flight who were more than willing to drop down a $20,000 US deposit to secure their spots. There are a LOT of people who want to goto the stars. I even took the time to watch Virgin''s promotional video which at the end has a caption on the screen that stats, "What''s Next?". At the end of the clip it shows a computer generated Virgin ship docking with a spacestation in space which is supposed to be (or so I read) a hotel in space. Of course, I doubt I will see anything like that in my lifetime, so for me it will be a dream and hope for my children or grandchildren to be able to goto space and maybe even take a vactaion up there; just because.

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Anyway folks, I got into work a little early today becuase of a few things I need to work on right away. Have a great day and remember to look to the stars. ;)

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Cheers,

Al