What is Digg?130 Comments
- junaru, on 04/09/2008, -4/+53weed + battlestar galactica, i saved you 50,000£
- frazier428, on 04/09/2008, -0/+35SHOTGUN!
- DrDragun, on 04/09/2008, -1/+3237 miles? Meh. Virgin Galactic is 62 miles, which is technically where "space" starts.
- nonpareil, on 04/09/2008, -1/+26I am knee-jerk for ANYTHING space-related, but I think calling this space tourism is a bit presumptuous. A trip to the moon - THAT is space tourism. A trip into orbit, perhaps that too. But this is just kissing the heavens.
That said, if I could get into orbit for $100,000, I would probably make it my life's goal to have that much money by retirement -- would be one heck of an experience. - zephyear, on 04/09/2008, -1/+21actually it's one year away, virgin galactic's spaceshiptwo plans to start launches in late 09
- Trention, on 04/09/2008, -3/+18Doesn't space tourism already exist?
- concretewave, on 04/09/2008, -2/+16It looks alright...would have been better if they made that ship out of a DeLorean....
- trollick, on 04/09/2008, -0/+12CORRECTION: Space tourism is ALWAYS two years away.
- seantubridy, on 04/09/2008, -3/+14We're going to put a man on the moon!
How about we put a man in an apartment?
-David Cross - MacEnvy, on 04/09/2008, -2/+12You'd better have a lot more than $100,000 by retirement, or you're going to be eating cat food for a few decades.
- DrDragun, on 04/09/2008, -0/+10There will be some statistical % safety testing before paying customers are allowed to board of course. There is a big difference between the definition of "safe" in a R&D setting and "safe" in a consumer tourism setting.
That said, yeah there is always a chance you'll blow up. Then again, there's a chance of catastrophe everytime you get into a car as well. - DavidTTT, on 04/09/2008, -2/+10Call me back when we can take a trip to the moon.
- doctechnical, on 04/09/2008, -3/+10You bring up a good point. the whole "space tourism industry" is one single accident away from being regulated out of existence.
- jemka, on 04/09/2008, -1/+8It takes you to space, not 1955; where you can make out with your Mom. Slacker.
- foofoobee, on 04/09/2008, -0/+6Only 1 passenger seat? I'd want to take a trip of a lifetime like this with my wife, not alone. This is an amazing experience you'd want to share with someone.
- KTO3TO, on 04/09/2008, -0/+6the same thing was going on when the first airplanes began flying, the flights were very expensive and I'm sure there were a bunch of casualties, but without them we would have never gotten to this day and age where we get to take our shoes and belts off at the security line before being allowed the privilege to sit in a cramped seat to arrive somewhere a lot faster than if we had to travel by car or boat.
Plus just how airplane landings are just controlled crashes, rockets are just controlled explosions, the more practice we get the less chances of accidents. - drmangrum, on 04/09/2008, -0/+6Haven't they been saying this for 10 years now?
- Pixelante, on 04/09/2008, -0/+5Commercial flight took off after a lot of early accidents (check out how many flight pioneers got killed). But it was a tougher, harder time where menly men were not easily scared and womanly women (like Amerlia Earhart) were as undaunted as them if not more.
Then came the age of the wimp, the limp-wristed, wailing sissies that pollute the world with their uselessness. - ExRe, on 04/09/2008, -2/+6Rockets are inherently not safe.
You are basically sitting yourself down on huge amounts of highly explosive fuel, then lighting it. When something goes wrong, no matter how little, it probably will result in a catastrophic failure. - DeFex, on 04/09/2008, -1/+5How many stupid people with £50,000 can there be?
or are they building a secret ship to escape earth after they completely ruin it, and this is the cover story for all the space planes going up. /tinfoil - andy3109, on 04/09/2008, -0/+4Hate to be negative Nancy...but I think I'll believe it when I see it. Two years seems a little soon.
- Conwaysb0718, on 04/09/2008, -0/+4Yea, its amazing we ever got commercial flight off the ground in the first place.
- surKaz, on 04/09/2008, -0/+4wait a sec... isn't that supposed to be division?
- Andrwmorph, on 04/09/2008, -1/+5Hell I'd rather blow up in space than not go at all.
- Chakat, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3How about we settle both. We'll put a man, in an apartment, on the moon. Colonization FTW.
- DrDragun, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3Or an Imperial Shuttle with the big fins?
- Xondar, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3If you don't take risks, then why bother doing anything at all?
- inactive, on 04/09/2008, -5/+8Personally, what matters the most to me is when space tourism flight is safe. If you read the news back last year or so, you would have heard that a test rocket unexpectedly blew up killing several scientists working on SpaceShip Two (by Virgin Galactic), and what they said was "We were doing a test we believe was safe. We don't know why it exploded. We just don't know." (Source: http://www.knbc.com/news/13764132/detail.html?dl=m ...
Alright, the point i'm making here is, and I paraphrase: they are doing a flight they believe is safe...[hours after the flight]... "We don't know why it exploded." - chrissku, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3So they want people to spend 100k to go really high up in the air? Give me a break.
- madcreator, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3In that case, even better. More $$$ for hookers.
- Erythroxylum, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3Yeah, it's existed since the early nineties. I haven't read the article - I can't be bothered - but I suspect they mean relatively cheap space tourism or something.
- NinjaBoy, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3http://www.virgingalactic.com wow....just wow
- 0crabby0, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3You are right to be skeptical of XCOR - They're the ones who wanted to start the rocket racing series.
Now that has fizzled, and they want to put the rockets in a jet and call it "Space Tourism".
No thanks XCOR.... - jemka, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2Sir, please take your seat.
- gKarkanis, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2The things rich people do with their money..
- jschrab, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2Nonpareil? My thinking too! Hope to see you on a flight in 25-30 years!
- ike6116, on 04/09/2008, -4/+6I heard something like this two years ago.
- diggdallas, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2Only a 2 seater? That makes it kinda boring unless the pilot gives you a handjob while you're taking in the view.
- DeFex, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2you can go in the vomit comet for much less.
- jschrab, on 04/09/2008, -1/+3As always, TED Talks are recommended listening/viewing. But Burt Rutan's talk in particular on entrepreneur driven space travel makes a case for how important this effort is. Recommended: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/4
- inactive, on 04/09/2008, -1/+3DO WANT! So worth it, as long as i can see space and float around a little, then i am happy.
- inactive, on 04/09/2008, -1/+3In the news, they said they would rush to go commercial by 2009 or 2010 giving 1 year of test flights. If they fly one time per day, the maximum number of test lights is only 365. That's not enough for any statistical safety rating for a spacecraft. No regulatory body would stamp a safety rating for that number of test flights.
- dollar0dot02, on 04/09/2008, -0/+1actually, space tourism already began - google dennis tito
- Chunken, on 04/09/2008, -1/+2Dugg for coolness but I'm saving my money for when we can spend a few days in space instead of a few minutes near the border of space.
- yetAnotherCroc, on 04/09/2008, -0/+1Or possibly very short miles (or leally long feet?)
EDIT: Yes I am aware that that makes no sense at all. Even mathematically. - encumbent, on 04/10/2008, -0/+1Is there a regulatory body for commercial space flight?? They probably just have to make sure its safe in the atmosphere a la plane..
- MiNGLED, on 04/09/2008, -0/+1That would be the multimillionaire Dennis Tito, they are talking about space tourism for mere millionaires.
- rugabug, on 04/10/2008, -0/+1$50k is ungodly cheap for "space" travel.
- diggdallas, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1How far do you have to go in space to see an entire hemisphere?
(I tried googling this but couldn't find an answer)
In a few decades, I hope "total earth view" will be the industry standard, making these 37 mile flights look like hayrides. - timlump, on 04/09/2008, -1/+2This would actually be of some use if they made it the size of a jet liner and it actually went to a destination other than where you took off from.
That would be the proprer evolution of transport, and not some over-expensive waste just so you can get a few seconds of floating. -
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