Virgin Galactic is the pioneer of Space Tourism



Space Tourism...
Is space travel for recreational or leisure purposes. It is a service comparable to any guided tour, except that it takes place in space and the costs are much higher. These expensive voyages are mainly limited to rich people who can afford this kind of entertainment. Indeed, the targeted customers are the very rich, who may not know what to do with their money or the adventurous who are always looking for new experiences and thrill of a new kind.

Virgin Galactic...
Is a spaceship company managed by the British billionaire Richard Branson and has been offering since 2005 two-hour journeys into space for 'only' $200,000 per passenger. During this flight, the spaceship – 'SpaceShipTwo' – will first go over 15 kilometres above Earth, propelled in the air at a speed of over 4,000 kilometres in less than one minute, the six passengers (and two pilots) will then be able for a short period of time to enjoy an out-of-the-seat, zero-gravity experience.




Three choices of reservation...
  1. Pioneer Astronaut : the earliest available seat
  2. Voyager astronaut : waiting list of later seat
  3. Spaceship Charter : exclusive spaceflight for you and up to five friend – six seats for the price of five
The passengers must deposit the full payment up front. For now, 529 people have already booked their two-hour voyage, this totals up an enormous amount of over $105 million. The group of pioneer astronauts already includes a Singaporean family of four people, a 17-year-old Canadian boy and alleged celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, Brad Pitt, Jay-Z, Tom Hanks etc. However, it is important to note that people who have already booked their 'flight' do not know when they will be able to take the spaceship. They were supposed to fly either this year or next year, yet the project keeps being pushed back and the exact date for the first launch is not fixed. Nevertheless, this October, Richard Branson inaugurated the first space airport – the 'Spaceport America' – which is located in New Mexico and proves that the finish line of this project is soon to be crossed.




Issues
Obviously this project comes with skepticism, especially regarding the safety of these spaceships, thus of its passengers and the environmental impact of the spaceships (energy used, material used for the construction of these aircrafts). The cost of this project, which means the huge amount of money invested, is also contested since people believe such money could be used to deal with serious problems in the world. Virgin Galactic however affirms this project is clean-tech and that their mission is to use cleaner, cheaper and safer materials and technologies. Moreover these issues do not overshadow this revolutionary project and stop future passengers from booking their journey. Similar proposals will be considered and further development will be met. So, when will there be a journey to the Moon ?

Further information can be found on their official website http://www.virgingalactic.com/

Nathalie L.

Comments

  1. ngtbusinessblog11 November 2012 at 13:01

    I personnaly do not see the point in this type of "tourism" but anyway, have you read something about the insurances for such a journey?

    Thierry H.

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    1. Hiy-Ling13 November 2012 at 14:14

      I did not find anything about any kind of insurance and it actually is a big problem. What if someone wants to get his money back. I don't what is supposed to happen then. Such questions are not treated anywhere (though I had a look at the terms and conditions on the official website)

      Nath

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  2. ngtbusinessblog11 November 2012 at 23:36

    Concerning the interest of such tourism, I agree with Thierry and don't see the point...
    But regarding the ability to go to space, are there other condition than being rich? I mean conditions like the age or the health?
    And I heard about low cost companies coming on the space market. I think that they propose "space trip" for $75 000. Is it true? And if so, why would people pay more?

    Aurélie

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    1. Hiy-Ling13 November 2012 at 14:24

      I can understand the point of view of people not agreeing to this kind of leisure but I guess that when you have the money, you don't care about it. To me, space is kind of attractive (regardless of environmental issues and the price), it is something completely unknown and the offer is quite well marketed !
      Well, of course, first, you need the money to book your trip and then you can't be under 18 (except for the 17-year-old boy but I think he got his guardian's agreement, plus I guess he will be over 18 when he'll be able to fly)
      Regarding the low cost trip, it is not really the case at the moment. Space Tourism, as any other kind of tourism, needs to be first developed before even having some low-cost offers. However there is another project name Lynx offering a flight of 90 minute from NY to Tokyo for $95,000. S, much cheaper than Virgin Galactic but not offering the same service.

      Nath

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  3. ngtbusinessblog12 November 2012 at 08:00

    I agree with Thierry and Aurélie, especially when you have to pay so much money for just 2 hours of flight and it is generating so much pollution! While so many people are starving, don't have enough money to have proper cloth, a house ...
    But one question, if I understood well, you have to pay everything before but you don't know when you will be able to actually do the voyage into space so it can be in 6 months, 1 year ... ?
    Chloé B

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    1. Hiy-Ling13 November 2012 at 14:27

      That's it, you have to pay everything up front even though you don't even know when you will be able to fly. Yet the customers know about this fact and are thus aware of this waiting. The thing is what if something happen to one of the passengers and that he can't do this trip anymore. Nothing is specified in these cases.

      Nath

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  4. ngtbusinessblog13 November 2012 at 07:42

    I don't agree with Thierry and Aurélie in the sense that I can understand that there is some people who are really interested in travelling to "space" and if they can afford it...BUT as Chloé said I really think that there is an ethical issu. Indeed how to stay quiet when you see that a minority of rich people can afford a $200.000 ticket for 2 hours in space just for leisure??Wherease we still see children starving to death in the world.I think those rich people should be ashamed of paying such amount of money, so where is humanity in this project? They should implement a percentage of tax on any Virgin Galactic flight ticket so as to fund NGOs, Charities, etc. In fact this project just contributes to deepen social inequalities...

    Sofia S.

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    1. Hiy-Ling13 November 2012 at 14:33

      It is indeed a big ethical issue, yet when you think about it whether they buy a ticket for space or 5 brand new cars, it is still a lot of money used. However I agree with the fact that some taxes could be set on these tickets. We live in an individualistic world where people only think about their own pleasure and interests, whether other like it or not it is their money and they deserve to enjoy these kind of activities (from the point view on my own assumption).

      Nath

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  5. Unknown25 November 2012 at 03:37

    I agree with all the comments which have been made.
    However, Jay-Z (if I take his example) has already a foundation : the Shawn Carter Foundation, which helps the education of children. So, we can not say that he is only looking at his own interest. The same for Brad Pitt, which is really involved in the improvement of living conditions in poor countries with Angelina Jolie.
    If we start from the principle that people who have a lot of money have to make donations to NGOs etc instead of spending it in some incredible activities, unfortunately there are not only the field of space tourism which is concerned.
    Finally, if we look at the positive side of this project, I guess that it has created many jobs and scientific researches, do you know maybe roughly how many?

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    1. Hiy-Ling25 November 2012 at 07:33

      I did not think bout job creation but it is indeed a positive point. I have made some research and on the web article (available on http://www.universetoday.com/62657/study-says-11800-jobs-to-be-created-per-year-by-commercial-space-flight/) It is said that 11,800 jobs are to be created per year thanks to Space Tourism. However it is not an official number but I guess in term of employment it is not that bad and even more for countries who develop this kind of tourism since it generates a lot of money , although environmentally speaking it is discussable.

      Nathalie

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