Want to go to space in 2019 with Virgin Galactic? Pack courage … and US$250,000
- After years of hype, questions over safety and no small measure of effort, Richard Branson’s space tourism project is almost a reality
Deep inside The Spaceship Company’s secretive Building 79, a man points to a rigid but lightweight panel made from carbon fibre that is the thickness of two decks of cards.
The absurdity of what he’s about to say makes him smile.
“There’s just about one inch between you and space,” says Enrico Palermo, president of Virgin’s The Spaceship Company, which is tasked with building the plane-like crafts that Virgin Galactic plans to use to take paying customers on a joyride into the cosmos next year.
“That’s it, one inch,” says Palermo, pointing at the thin hull material and shaking his head. “Amazing what humans can do.”
Especially when it comes to space. Venturing into the cosmos has always packed a thrill, a risk, an adventure and a cost in both dollars and lives. Forever, it was down to government agencies and professional astronauts to pay that price and reap those rewards. But no longer.
If all goes to plan, though admittedly little in the realm of space exploration does, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic could be the first of a few tech-titan-fuelled private space ventures to blast ordinary humans into space and return them safely to Earth.
Whether Virgin Galactic becomes merely a thrill ride for those with US$250,000 for a ticket or a giant leap for mankind remains a looming question.