Space: The Final Private Frontier

[mel]

Re: Space: The Final Private Frontier

The commercial space thrill ride are for those who can afford to blow money on going nowhere.... for now. I am sure in time, when better and more powerful spacecraft can be built, there may be a suborbital space flight from say, New York to London... the first Mercury spaceflight carrying Alan B. Shepard was a 15 minute suborbital trip across the Atlantic ocean in 1961. I am sure there will be some kind of market for a 15 to 20 minute space trip between the East Coast USA and Europe sometime in the future.

[mel]

Re: Space: The Final Private Frontier

Spaceship One made its second successful flight within a week to now claim the Ansari X Prize of $10 million this morning. The flight was done on this day, the anniversary of the first Sputnik satellite in 1957.

[Miulang]

Re: Space: The Final Private Frontier

Spaceship One made its second successful flight within a week to now claim the Ansari X Prize of $10 million this morning. The flight was done on this day, the anniversary of the first Sputnik satellite in 1957.

Reports say that Paul Allen (ex-Microsoft) and Richard Bransom (Virgin Air)spent around $20 million on this project, so the $10 million will help mitigate some of the expenses. For Paul Allen the whole thing was just a lark...he's the one who founded the EMP (Experience Music Project) and the SciFi Museum here in Seattle, too. He also owns the Portland Trailblazers and was instrumental in keeping the NFL here in Seattle.

Miulang

[mel]

Re: Space: The Final Private Frontier

Yes, the $10 million will only help cover expenses for the flights and project. Winning the prize gives Scaled Composites the bragging rights to the prize and all the firsts the firm has achieved. The contract with Virgin Galactic is not exclusive. Other investors who want to start their own spaceliner business can also license the technology used in Spaceship One.

As for Paul Allen, well he's got the bucks and he's free to spend it on any lark of a cause he pleases. He's lucky with Scaled Composites in the fact that they have been enjoying a string of successes over this year.

[pzarquon]

Re: Space: The Final Private Frontier

By complete accident I caught "Black Sky: The Race for Space," the Discovery Channel documentary on the X Prize. Lots of on-the-ground, real-life footage, including the battle between two companies to win the contract to develop SpaceShipOne's rocket propulsion system.

Actually, the broadcast was billed as "Part 1," and with this morning's news, there's definitely a lot of new material to be incorporated into "Part 2" -- there's an update scheduled to air Oct. 7.