Virgins In Outer Space

Sci Fi fans are aware of a common thread running through most space-based tales: easy access to outer space! Be it Arthur C. Clarke’s space elevator, moon shuttles, the ubiquitous wormhole, or Star Trek’s transporter beam, one fact runs through all. To have cool adventures in space, you have to get off some darned planet first.

So check out SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded craft to achieve manned space flight. Financier and man with a dream Paul Allen (a Microsoft co-founder) and Burt Rutan (aerospace engineer genius extraordinaire) brought SpaceShipOne to life as the Tier One Project, in the process garnering the coveted Ansari X Prize in 2004. Their craft is super hi-tech, cutting edge, and best of all, it works!

Enter Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson. He appears to be one guy who knows how to make money and have a heck of a good time spending it. Branson’s known as an industrialist, humanitarian, and record-setting adventurer. It sems he spends a lot of time thinking — and living — outside the box. So when Branson says he wants to take us into space by 2011, we just might be inclined to listen.

Partnering with the creators of SpaceShipOne, Branson’s Virgin Galactic helped fund the development and construction of a second generation fleet, complete with motherships (with B-52 sized wingspans!) to carry the spaceships on their first leg of the journey, and, in June, broke ground on Spaceport America in southern New Mexico. Not a lot of slacking on this project.

The point of all this is nothing less than a Sci Fi geek’s dream come true: Space Tourism! Civilian spaceflight opportunities! It’s Virgin Galactic’s aim to rocket paying customers up into zero G for a few moments of free-form acrobatics and a great look at the Earth. And the, uh, exhilarating experience of liftoff and re-entry, of course. Future plans include even more elaborate space jaunts. Almost 300 folks have already signed up for the sub-orbital ride, although the current pricetag of two hundred thou probably rules out any of my friends, or me, at our current earning potentials.

Still, it’s there! It’s happening right now. And perhaps sooner than later, someone you know might be dropping you a hasty email from low orbit, or sending you a video clip as they glide towards the moon on vacation. It’s thoughts like these that keep the geek in all of us alive, and make the future we’ve read about for years seem a bit closer.

Now, who’s working on that transporter tech?