25 Places to visit before you die: No. 25 Virgin Galactic

In 1969, when Neil Armstrong stepped from Apollo 11 onto the surface of the moon and uttered the immortal words, 'One small step for man one giant leap for mankind', many believed that in a generation the science fiction of Star Trek would be science fact and we all would be joining Capt. James T. Kirk and, 'boldly going.....'. Sadly we are all still waiting, but Virgin Galactic is certainly a huge step forward, offering an opportunity to travel to the outer boundary of the Earth's atmosphere at 70,000 ft (21,000 M), experience weightlessness and be able to look upon our fabulously beautiful planet, as those pioneers of space travel first did in the 1960s. At $200,000 a ticket the trips are beyond most of us, but in time costs will fall and a 'space' trip with Virgin Galactic will move towards an achievable aspiration, hence its inclusion on afterabc's list of, 25 Places to visit before you die.

Virgin Galactic is a part of the Virgin Group, and they are close to making the first sub-orbital spaceflights caring paying passengers.

The craft is designed as an 'aircraft' with detectable 'space craft', that will take off and land from the purpose built Norman Foster designed space terminal in New Mexico USA.

At around 52,000 ft (16,000 m), the rocket space craft will separate from the aircraft, accelerate to Mach 3 and venture to the each of the Earth's atmosphere. For approximately 6 minutes the six passages and two crew will experience 'zero gravity'. The Passengers will be able to release themselves from their seats during these 6 minutes and float around the cabin.

The space craft will then glide back to New Mexico, landing approximately two and half hours after take off.

The Virgin Group are not known for under-selling themselves, but because in this instance they are breaking barriers, we shall leave the final words to them, extracted  from the Virgin Galactic website:

The Dream

"After two or three fabulous days of preparing with your crew - you're suited up and you're raring to go. The climb to 50,000 feet is marked with quiet contemplation but there's an air of confidence and eager anticipation.

Then the countdown to release, a brief moment of quiet before a wave of unimaginable but controlled power surges through the craft. You are instantly pinned back into your seat, overwhelmed but enthralled by the howl of the rocket motor and the eye- watering acceleration which, as you watch the read-out, has you travelling in a matter of seconds, at almost 2500mph, over 3 times the speed of sound.

As you hurtle through the edges of the atmosphere, the large windows show the cobalt blue sky turning to mauve and indigo and finally to black. You're on a high; this is really happening, you're loving it and you're coping well. You start to relax; but in an instant your senses are back on full alert, the world contained in your spaceship has completely transformed.

The rocket motor has been switched off and it is quiet. But it's not just quiet, it's QUIET. The silence of space is as awe inspiring as was the noise of the rocket just moments earlier. What's really getting your senses screaming now though, is that the gravity which has dominated every movement you've made since the day you were born is not there any more. There is no up and no down and you're out of your seat experiencing the freedom that even your dreams underestimated. After a graceful mid-space summersault you find yourself at a large window and what you see is a view that you've seen in countless images but the reality is so much more beautiful and provokes emotions that are strong but hard to define".

Beam me up Scotty.

January 21, 2010  |  Article Posted By: afterabc admin , London
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