Virgin Galactic, Branson's space venture

[tater]

23 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

To be fair, there are far worse ways to spend that much money (but definitely a lot of better ways) and Spaceport America was supposed to have had a lot more business by now. This is mostly due to the tenants and not the spaceport itself.

At one point, among others, SpaceX was going to do landing testing there.

Like Hopper testing, yes. In short, suborbital flights that can never leave the footprint of the missile range.

[Cheif Operations Director]

5 minutes ago, tater said:

Like Hopper testing, yes. In short, suborbital flights that can never leave the footprint of the missile range.

Right, could be planes as well with orbital satellite launchers attached but I think those are going out of favor if I remember correctly.

[tater]

6 minutes ago, Cheif Operations Director said:

Right, could be planes as well with orbital satellite launchers attached but I think those are going out of favor if I remember correctly.

Even those I think are suspect, anything with a decent chance of raining, well, anything on inhabited areas.

[Cheif Operations Director]

1 minute ago, tater said:

Even those I think are suspect, anything with a decent chance of raining, well, anything on inhabited areas.

Right, because you can always just use an airport, that being said it would still be work and be somewhat safe. 

[mikegarrison]

Basically, Spaceport America was supposed to be the home of the popular and successful space tourism business of Virgin Galactic.

Well, we know how that has turned out so far.

It was designed back during the big excitement when SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X prize. That was 15 years ago now! People assumed that it would not take 15 years to start commercial suborbital space tourism.

Edited August 14, 2019 by mikegarrison

[Cheif Operations Director]

1 minute ago, mikegarrison said:

Basically, Spaceport America was supposed to be the home of the popular and successful space tourism business of Virgin Galactic.

Well, we know how that has turned out so far.

It was designed back during the big excitement when SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X prize. That was 15 years ago now! People assumed that it would take nearly 15 years to start commercial suborbital space tourism.

Sounds like SpaceX’s estimates for the falcon heavy

[tater]

Where gajillionaires can hang out waiting for their 11 minute joy ride.

[Cheif Operations Director]

10 hours ago, tater said:

Where gajillionaires can hang out waiting for their 11 minute joy ride.

lol

[tater]

To be fair, I think I can just drive down there and visit. It was built with my tax dollars, I'd raise a stink if they didn't let me in.

[mikegarrison]

4 hours ago, tater said:

To be fair, I think I can just drive down there and visit. It was built with my tax dollars, I'd raise a stink if they didn't let me in.

Reminds me of when Homer Simpson told the cops that his tax dollars pay their salaries. As they throw him in jail, they say, "Look what else your tax dollars pay for...."

[tater]

2 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

Reminds me of when Homer Simpson told the cops that his tax dollars pay their salaries. As they throw him in jail, they say, "Look what else your tax dollars pay for...."

None the less, it's a nominally public facility, I'm allowed in the airport, and train station, for example.

I checked and walk-ins are accommodated short of operational issues (there are sounding rocket launches, etc, that close the roads).

[Nightside]

1 hour ago, tater said:

None the less, it's a nominally public facility, I'm allowed in the airport, and train station, for example.

I checked and walk-ins are accommodated short of operational issues (there are sounding rocket launches, etc, that close the roads).

its probably easier to get into than a normal airport.

[tater]

1 hour ago, Nightside said:

its probably easier to get into than a normal airport.

Seems like it, yes. They might not have the bar/cafe open except for when its in use, however.

[tater]

 

[Ultimate Steve]

Any updates on scheduling for both suborbital space tourism companies? We seem long overdue for another SS2 flight (albeit they are relocating), the last being 7 months ago, and similarly overdue for another NS flight, the last being four months ago. I believe BO recently said that they still want to fly people this year, but I also heard that means at least 3 more flights in 3.5 months...

[Nightside]

3 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Any updates on scheduling for both suborbital space tourism companies? We seem long overdue for another SS2 flight (albeit they are relocating), the last being 7 months ago, and similarly overdue for another NS flight, the last being four months ago. I believe BO recently said that they still want to fly people this year, but I also heard that means at least 3 more flights in 3.5 months...

Has anyone ever even said they've even a ticket? Do customers sign an NDA?

[Ultimate Steve]

13 minutes ago, Nightside said:

Has anyone ever even said they've even a ticket? Do customers sign an NDA?

I believe so. VG has a few hundred customers lined up, AFAIK BO has none.

[Brotoro]

I know a guy who has a reservation for a Virgin Galactic flight (not an actual ticket with a date...but he has paid some amount of money, but not the whole thing).

[tater]

I think this particular flight model for suborbital would be well served by aiming for a real airworthiness rating, vs the level of risk it actually is. NS at least has abort modes that make sense to me. I can't imagine spending 250k on a few minute ride, but if I was going to, I think BO's offering seems safer, honestly.

[mikegarrison]

4 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

I believe so. VG has a few hundred customers lined up, AFAIK BO has none.

You know how Blue Origin works. They could have half the world signed up and they wouldn't tell anyone about it until after they actually flew them.

[tater]

43 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

You know how Blue Origin works. They could have half the world signed up and they wouldn't tell anyone about it until after they actually flew them.

LOL, true.

That said, they have yet to announce a price.

 

[Ultimate Steve]

1 hour ago, mikegarrison said:

You know how Blue Origin works. They could have half the world signed up and they wouldn't tell anyone about it until after they actually flew them.

I can disprove that. If half of the world was signed up, I would definitely be in that half! I'm in the richest half, the half most fascinated by space, likely the strongest half, and probably a few other noteworthy halves.

[tater]

Interesting...

 

[Wjolcz]

19 minutes ago, tater said:

Interesting...

 

Soooo... P2P?

[tater]

Sounds like it.

HTHL certainly looks more like extant infrastructure, and any noise issues, etc would be better served by flying away from an airport, then launching...

The travel times would still be superior to current air travel, though climb out to launch might be longer than the suborbital trip could last.