Dec 25th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Space Tourists airs tonight on the Documentary Channel at 8pm & 11pm
When Anousheh Ansari boarded the International Space Station on September 20th, 2006, she became the first self-funded female, the first Iranian citizen, and the fourth human overall to enter the Earth's orbit as a coveted 'space tourist'.
After building and selling a large telecom business, Ansari had ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
VirginGalactic posts
Space Tourists: a cinematic journey to the ISS (w/ Audio Interview)
Dec 25th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Space Tourists airs tonight on the Documentary Channel at 8pm & 11pm
When Anousheh Ansari boarded the International Space Station on September 20th, 2006, she became the first self-funded female, the first Iranian citizen, and the fourth human overall to enter the Earth's orbit as a coveted 'space tourist'.
After building and selling a large telecom business, Ansari had ...Video of the Day - Flying over Earth on the ISS
Nov 15th, 2011 at 11:00AM:
If you haven't seen this video since its emergence on the internet in the past two days, stop whatever you're doing, plug in your best headphones, quit your other applications (so you can watch in silky smooth HD), and full-screen this amazing compilation of moving images.
Edited by Michael König, this time-lapse was created by stitching together a series of still images shot by ...
Inside Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space (VIDEO)
Oct 18th, 2011 at 10:30AM:
Yesterday morning, Governor of New Mexico Susana Martinez, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides, and Richard Branson welcomed guests inside Spaceport America to commemorate and christen the spaceport's main terminal hangar facility as the 'Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space'.
Our team on the ground was on hand to capture the festivities, from the opening press conference to the Champagne ...Virgin Galactic christens terminal 'Gateway to Space' (Photos)
Oct 17th, 2011 at 6:00PM:
The Montgolfier brothers had Paris. The Wright brothers had Kill Devil Hills. Today, Richard Branson can officially call the New Mexican desert 'home' for his burgeoning commercial space line.
This morning, Governor of New Mexico Susana Martinez, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides, and Richard Branson welcomed guests inside Spaceport America, to commemorate and christen the ...Dirt-Road Driving To Explore Spaceport America
Sep 9th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
In the wilderness of New Mexico, set in the dry, scrubby desert under a crystalline pale blue sky, is a construction site with a bombastic and cartoonish name, incomplete but already a monument to the hubris of interstellar exploration or maybe to tax-payer financed public-private partnerships of indeterminate future success.
Spaceport America, a beautiful collection of Googie-inspired ...Virgin Galactic releases first "feathered flight" video
May 18th, 2011 at 6:00PM:
Historical implications aside, one of the most impressive and important aspects of Richard Branson's upcoming private space line is its distinct mode of atmospheric re-entry.
Thanks to a breakthrough design by legendary aerospace engineer Burt Rutan, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is one of the first craft to utilize a technique known as "feathered flight" to acheive a safer, more stable ...Space race brings trip around the Moon by 2015
May 8th, 2011 at 7:00AM:
We've heard of suborbital flights being booked by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, those have been in the works for quite some time. So have various plans for a replacement vehicle for the retiring space shuttles. Now, the news about space travel brings us to the Moon with a flight around the moon available coming up as soon as 2015 says one company already in the business.
Space ...Space Travel Update: Texas, Virgin and the Federation
Apr 13th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Space travel for all of us is slowly becoming a reality as legislators weigh in, job postings go up and the future begins to unfold before our eyes. Just a day after the 50th anniversary celebration of the world's first human spaceflight in 1961, the timing could not be better.
Commercial Space Travel got a big thumbs up from the Texas legislature this week as lawmakers approved a bill ...Virgin's future lands at San Francisco's new T2
Apr 7th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
It is not often that you casually glance out of the airplane window and see the future racing up beside you, glistening in the California sun like a joyriding space catamaran. This happened in San Francisco yesterday as Gadling took part in Virgin's latest celebration of innovation. Virgin held an event to toast the evolution of flight as well as the opening of Terminal two at San Francisco ...New SFO terminal brings romance back to air travel
Apr 7th, 2011 at 7:00AM:
It was 1954 when San Francisco International Airport (SFO) welcomed it's first flights. At the time, air travel was a luxurious experience and would-be classic airliners ruled the sky. This weekend, SFO reopens Terminal 2, thought to be the most modern and sustainable terminal in the United States, ushering in a new era of travel by air.
"An airport terminal designed to bring back the ...Virgin Galactic signs deal with scientists for space travel
Feb 28th, 2011 at 11:00AM: While NASA's Discovery made its final frontier into space on Friday, Virgin Galactic was inking its own space deal, this time substituting space tourists for scientists.
Southwest Research Institute, a nonprofit research organization, signed a deal with Virgin Galactic to conduct experiments in suborbital space. Two $200,000 tickets aboard the six-passenger SpaceShipTwo will be handed to ...First Virgin Hotel to open in New Mexico
Feb 7th, 2011 at 12:00PM: We expected something a little more glamorous from the Virgin crew, but our friends at HotelChatter report that Sir Richard Branson's first hotel will open in New Mexico. Seems the voyageur needs a little place to sleep before lifting off to orbit from Virgin Galactic Spaceport headquarters (located in New Mexico).
The good news is that there's more coming. Branson told HotelChatter that San ...Virgin Galactic sets sights on orbital spaceflight
Dec 16th, 2010 at 4:30PM:
The stakes in the commercial space race just got a little loftier. Today, Virgin Galactic officially announced plans to team up with two U.S companies in pursuit of developing a commercial manned orbital spacecraft.
Backed by fearless entrepreneur Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic has chosen to support Sierra Nevada Space Systems (SNC) and Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) under NASA's ...First craft lands at Spaceport America (Exclusive Video)
Oct 26th, 2010 at 8:30AM:
The future of travel is one step closer to taking off. Last Friday, Spaceport America officially dedicated its recently completed tarmac by welcoming two craft to land in front of a large crowd of Spaceport officials, future astronauts, and press.
Gadling was on-site to witness history as Virgin Galactic's spaceship VSS Enterprise, carried by mothership White Knight II, made a dramatic ...Virgin Galactic's spaceship Enterprise flies first solo run
Oct 11th, 2010 at 9:30AM:
The world is one step closer to the era of space tourism after an historic flight in the Mojave desert yesterday.
Virgin Galactic's spaceship Enterprise took its first solo flight, detaching from the mothership Eve and landing on its own power.
Enterprise can carry six passengers and two crew. The mothership Eve carries Enterprise up into the sky before the Enterprise detaches and ignites ...Virgin Galactic launcher delayed
Oct 2nd, 2010 at 1:00PM:
We've covered space tourism company Virgin Galactic a lot here on Gadling. What hasn't gotten so much discussion is LauncherOne, a rocket that would take off from the WhiteKnightTwo mother ship, the same ship that carries SpaceshipTwo. While SpaceShipTwo is a space plane that would detach from the mother ship and fly into the high atmosphere, LauncherOne is a more conventional rocket that would ...Space tourism one step closer with Virgin Galactic's first manned flight
Jul 18th, 2010 at 9:00AM:
The VSS Enterprise, also known as SpaceShipTwo, has taken its first crewed flight. It stayed in the air for six hours attached to its mother ship, the VMS Eve. Two crew members stayed aboard and conducted systems tests. This is the latest aviation milestone in an active month that saw the first overnight flight by a solar airplane and the first unmanned solar plane to fly for a whole week.
...Space tourism already getting cheaper!
May 14th, 2010 at 8:00AM: Space tourism may still be a few years from taking off (pun fully intended!) but competition is already bringing the price down dramatically. According to this story from MSNBC, a company known as Space Adventures has partnered with Armadillo Aerospace to make space tourism relatively affordable. In this case, "affordable" means $102,000, which is almost half the cost of rival Virgin Galactic's ...Video of the week (3.26.10)
Mar 26th, 2010 at 6:00PM:
The Video of the Week for this week shows the first flight of White Night Two while carrying the Virgin Galactic "Enterprise" spacecraft. The flight took place just three days ago and is the latest step toward operating commercial passenger space flights in 2011.
Gadling was there when they unveiled SpaceShipTwo under very stormy skies. But they couldn't have had a more beautiful day to ...
Virgin Galactic VSS Enterprise makes its first "Captive Carry Flight"
Mar 23rd, 2010 at 2:00PM:
It was just 4 months ago when the Gadling team visited the Mojave Desert space port to witness the unveiling of the VSS Enterprise - the actual Virgin Galactic plane that will be flying paying guests into space on the first commercial space flight service.
Yesterday was another huge milestone for the team - they took the VSS Enterprise for its first "captive carry flight". This flight ...
