#spaceship2

#repostwithrespect @bosplanet #ahasave @ahasave —— Tomorrow, @RichardBranson and the @VirginGalactic #Unity22 crew will get to experience a view of planet Earth so rare, that only a few hundred humans (out of billions) have been able to. This is a a giant leap toward commercial suborbital spaceflight. This is us, humans, getting closer to provide that overview experience to more and more people. Enabling access to space for everyone is what the space race is for. Not for personal ego boosters, not for division, rather for unity. Don’t let them distract you from the fact that we are still a young (space faring wannabe) species. That means community support across the space industry is almost necessary to lift us up into this new planetary economy we called space. Shout to the #Spaceship2 crew members @sirishabandla @astro_beth - David Mackay, Colin Bennett and Mike Masucci. Enjoy the well deserved views Richard — peace! Video shows latest @virgingalactic VSS Unity back on May. #bosplanet #spacetourism #virgingalactic https://www.instagram.com/p/CRWayH-g2ae/?utm_medium=tumblr

Space Tourism Isn’t Worth Dying For - A brave test pilot is dead and another one critically injured—in the service of a millionaire boondoggle thrill ride. To be clear: I like spaceships. A lot. I went to the first landing of the space shuttle post-Challenger disaster. I went to the Mojave for the first test flight of SpaceShipOne, nominally to cover it but really just to gaze in wonder. I root for SpaceX, and felt real disappointment at Orbital Sciences’ Antares disaster this week. But in the wake of this tragedy out at Mojave—not even the first time a SpaceShipTwo test has killed someone—we’re going to hear a lot about exploration, about pioneers and frontiers. People are going to talk about Giant Leaps for Mankind and Boldly Going Where No One Has Gone Before. And we should call bullshit on that. SpaceShipTwo—at least, the version that has the Virgin Galactic livery painted on its tail—is not a Federation starship. It’s not a vehicle for the exploration of frontiers. This would be true even if Virgin Galactic did more than barely brush up against the bottom of space. Virgin Galactic is building the world’s most expensive roller coaster, the aerospace version of Beluga caviar. It’s a thing for rich people to do: pay $250,000 to not feel the weight of the world. People get rich; they spend money. Sometimes it’s vulgar, but it’s the system we all seem to accept. When it costs the lives of the workers building that system, we should stop accepting it. (via Space Tourism Isn't Worth Dying For | WIRED)

Spaceship Two - first feathered flight