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Virgin Galactic has unveiled a new commercial spaceship more than a year after its predecessor crashed and killed one of its pilots.
Friday, Virgin Galactic unveiled its new spaceship to replace the one that crashed during testing a year and a half ago.
This is hopeful news for New Mexico, because the state and its $220 million spaceport have a lot riding on Virgin Galactic.
“This is the vehicle that is going to take many hundreds of regular people into space for the first time,” said Virgin Galactic Chief Pilot Dave Mackay.
Yes, we heard the same thing eight years ago from Virgin Galactic, which is still pushing to become the world’s first space tourism company.
The spaceship will launch from a mothership about 50,000 feet up, and then rocket more than 50 miles above the earth into space where passengers will spend six minutes of weightlessness before coming back down to the Spaceport.
But there’s a lot of testing still to be done, and Virgin Galactic is now hoping for a maiden voyage in early 2018.
“It’s a sensational experience of course. But it’s more important than that. It’s a first step in opening up space to the wider population of the world,” said Mackay.
The new spaceship was already under construction before the other ship crashed.
More than 700 people, including some big name celebrities, have already plopped down $250,000 for a space flight with Virgin Galactic. Sir Richard Branson says he’ll be on that maiden voyage, whenever that happens.
New Mexico built the spaceport with Virgin Galactic in mind. Virgin still has not set up shop in New Mexico, running all their operations and testing in Southern California.
That could change as soon as next year.
Agencies/Canadajournal
