X Prize Contendors Beware!
Looks like Scaled Composites and the Mojave Aerospace Ventures team is about to clean up the much sought-after $10 million Ansari X Prize next month! With the first launch scheduled for this Wednesday (9/29) at 10:00 AM Eastern, and if all goes well, the follow-up on Monday, 10/4, not much can stop the fledgling aerospace company from finally meeting the goals set forth by the St. Louis-based X Prize Foundation almost 10 years ago. Visit the Ansari X Prize website to read more about this landmark accomplishment.
And before the first flight has even been launched, British entrepreneur and owner of Virgin Records, Virgin Mobil, and Virgin Airlines, Richard "Big Dick" Branson has already signed a deal with Mojave Aerospace to market the use of their technology to form the first commercial spaceflight company, appropriately named: Virgin Galactic. Branson's visionary goals include establishing public spaceports on multiple continents, and having thousands of paying customers in just the next five years. I personally look forward to buying a ticket once safety can be assured, and the prices drop from the initial $200,000 a pop.
Next, we'll just need places to go once we're up there... Any takers, Hilton? Best Western? Hopefully MirCorp will come through for us and get the first commercial space station in orbit before too long so that Virgin Galactic can actually have some orbital destinations for it's space-hungry customers. Hopefully in 6 or 7 years, I'll be blogging about my latest trip! ;)
And before the first flight has even been launched, British entrepreneur and owner of Virgin Records, Virgin Mobil, and Virgin Airlines, Richard "Big Dick" Branson has already signed a deal with Mojave Aerospace to market the use of their technology to form the first commercial spaceflight company, appropriately named: Virgin Galactic. Branson's visionary goals include establishing public spaceports on multiple continents, and having thousands of paying customers in just the next five years. I personally look forward to buying a ticket once safety can be assured, and the prices drop from the initial $200,000 a pop.
Next, we'll just need places to go once we're up there... Any takers, Hilton? Best Western? Hopefully MirCorp will come through for us and get the first commercial space station in orbit before too long so that Virgin Galactic can actually have some orbital destinations for it's space-hungry customers. Hopefully in 6 or 7 years, I'll be blogging about my latest trip! ;)
