Monday, January 28, 2008

Space Adventures’ Orbital Spaceflight Client, Richard Garriott, Begins Cosmonaut Training for October Spaceflight Launch

Garriott’s mission to include scientific and environmental research,
and educational outreach

Space Adventures, Ltd., the world’s leading space experiences company, announced today that famed game developer Richard Garriott, son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, has begun training at the Yuri Gagarin Training Center in Star City, Russia in preparation for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) currently planned for October.

“I am quite excited to be in training now and I look forward to all aspects that it will entail,” said Richard Garriott.  “But, I am particularly enthusiastic to be here in Star City, as a resident, with its amazing history of space exploration. I’m honored to surround myself with its people and I am determined to learn as much as I possibly can, inside and outside the classroom.”

Mr. Garriott’s spaceflight will be the first in a series of missions that will accommodate commercial activity aboard the ISS.  Involvement from the private sector will include scientific and environmental research and educational outreach programming.

“Since announcing Richard’s intent to fly, we have been contacted by numerous corporations and non-profits seeking ways in which to participate in his space mission,” said Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures.  “It is a very rare occasion when so many commercial opportunities are available during one spaceflight.  In the coming months, we will be announcing Richard’s mission partners and details on his planned on-orbit activities.”

Space Adventures made history in 2001 by organizing the mission of the first private space explorer. Now, the company continues to bring innovation to manned spaceflight by enabling corporate and non-profit entities to participate in commercial endeavors on the planet’s only orbiting outpost.

Interested parties, including commercial and non-profit entities and space enthusiasts, can get involved in Mr. Garriott’s spaceflight via his web site (www.richardinspace.com). Mr. Garriott will be updating the site continuously via photos, blog entries and individuals can submit questions and suggestions for his mission activities. “I want to involve as many people as possible in my mission,” said Mr. Garriott.

About Richard Garriott:

Richard Garriott is best known as a key figure in the computer gaming field. He was one of the earliest and most successful game developers. Mr. Garriott developed the Ultima series which remains the longest running computer game franchise, and with his brother, Robert, he founded Origin Systems, one of the most respected PC game developers and publishers. Richard also created Ultima Online, which ushered in the new massively multi-player online (MMO) genre, the fastest growing segment in computer gaming today. More recently, he co-founded the North American arm of NCsoft (www.PlayNC.com), the world’s largest online game developer and publisher. In November 2007, his latest game, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, launched in North America and in the European Union. For more information, please visit www.rgtr.com.

About Space Adventures:

Space Adventures, the company that organized the flights for the world’s first private space explorers: Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari and Charles Simonyi, is headquartered in Vienna, Va. with an office in Moscow. It offers a variety of programs such as the availability today for spaceflight missions to the International Space Station and around the moon, Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecrafts. The company's advisory board includes Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Shuttle astronauts Sam Durrance, Tom Jones, Byron Lichtenberg, Norm Thagard, Kathy Thornton, Pierre Thuot, Charles Walker, Skylab/Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Serge Dive Interviews: Carolyn Wincer, Head of Astronaut Sales, Virgin Galactic



Sir Richard Branson always fantasised about space travel. So when Dr Peter Diamandis dreamt up the $10m (£4.8m) Ansari X-Prize - the inspiration for private space travel - aerospace engineer Burt Rutan, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Branson teamed up. In June 2004, SpaceShipOne successfully completed her first test flight.

- What exactly is the Virgin Galactic experience?

It is a sub-orbital spaceflight which will be available to the paying public. Following astronaut training the space tourists take the SpaceShipTwo flight. The climb up to 50,000ft for the air launch will afford amazing views. After a brief freefall when SpaceShipTwo drops from her mothership, the rocket burn will push them back in their seats as the spacecraft accelerates to supersonic eye-watering speeds within 10 seconds of ignition, then to almost four times the speed of sound in 30 seconds. The sky turns from blue to black as they are propelled almost vertically out of Earth's atmosphere and into space.

The rocket engine will be shut off to reveal instant silence. Astronauts will have 1,000km visibility with the thin blue line of the atmosphere, the blackness of space and the curvature of Earth plain to see, all while floating weightless around the cabin. After a few minutes, they will begin to feel Earth's gravity pulling them back home, peaking at 6 Gs during a carefree and relatively heat-free re-entry. After a 45-minute glide back to the spaceport, they will greet their loved ones and be given their Virgin Galactic astronaut wings. All for just $200,000 (£96,900).

- How have Virgin Galactic sales gone to date?

Since 2005, more than 200 people from 31 countries have paid a deposit, and some 70,000 people from around the world have expressed interest. We also have over 82 'accredited space agents' in 17 countries, currently accounting for 50% of sales.

Tell us about the involvement you have had with Philippe Starck and Stephen Hawking...

Philippe is amazing to work with and we feel incredibly privileged to have his creative input. He provided the inspiration for our brand and ensures all aspects of design maintain brand integrity.

Professor Stephen Hawking has a deep desire to go to space and we hope to help him fulfil that. He has contributed so much to our understanding of the universe and inspired people to look for answers to some of the biggest questions ever asked - namely, how did we get here?

- Is space travel the future of luxury travel?

I think it is the new frontier of luxury travel. Within 10 to 15 years, people will be visiting hotels in orbit, shortly followed by holidays to the moon and hopefully beyond. I hope that in 40 or 50 years' time we will have managed to create a vibrant industry enabling tens of thousands of people to work, live and holiday in space, and one that has made positive contributions to the issues facing our planet.

- Which country will use Virgin Galactic the most?

The US is the most important, with around 50% of sales to date. Thankfully, our price is in US dollars so Americans are still comfortable with buying.

- Which luxury companies do you respect?

I hugely admire Virtuoso. Matthew Upchurch has created a dynamic and innovative organisation. He has unbelievable foresight: about 10 years ago when everyone else was saying that travel agents were a dying breed, he instinctively knew that travellers were always going to need them.

- What mistakes have you learned most from?

Thinking if successful companies do things a certain way there is a good reason for that, and we should do it that way too. It couldn't be further from the truth.

- What is the key driver for luxury travel?

Accessibility. As a destination or experience becomes more accessible, the high end of the market drops it like a hot cake and moves onto something more exclusive, or at the very least, more expensive. Only product innovation, coupled with courage, can keep a company exclusive in the eyes of the luxury traveller.

- What advice would you give the industry?

Define your values as a company. Words like 'honest' and 'exciting' make excellent brand values.

- Serge Dive is one of the three founding members of the International Luxury Travel Market, held in Cannes.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

ETC's NASTAR Center Announces the Launch of New Air and Space Adventure Programs

Southampton, PA: January 16, 2008 - Environmental Tectonics Corporation's (AMEX:ETC) ("ETC" or the "Company") National Aerospace Training and Research Center (NASTARSM Center) announced today that it has launched its Air and Space Adventure Programs, a series of programs designed to provide realistic flight experiences for astronaut and fighter pilot enthusiasts alike. The NASTARSM Center is now offering 2-hour, half-day, full-day, and 2-day combo programs that simulate fast jet flights and space voyages.

NASTARSM Center is doing this with the same technology it uses to train military fighter pilots and Virgin Galactic space passengers. With these programs, the general public can come to the NASTARSM Center and find out what it is like to fly a high-performance jet or blast off into outer space. They can do this just for fun, or to enhance their knowledge and test their aptitude pulling G's for those interested in signing up for a real space launch or becoming a fighter pilot.

Glen King, COO of the NASTARSM Center, commented, "We are proud, and excited to bring these programs to the general public. Adventurers who have always wanted to fly a fast jet or launch into space can test their personal limits, and push the envelop of their aircraft or spacecraft in a safe environment. We provide each adventurer with the training and the tools to maximize their experience and successfully engage a bogie, or sustain the G's of re-entry from an Orbital flight."

The NASTARSM Center is providing this service on the world's only High Performance Human Centrifuge, which realistically replicates the flight dynamics of a high-performance jet, while providing a realistic cockpits and visual environments, and the actual sustained Gs one would experience while in flight. Gs are the variable force one feels while flying; one G equals the pull of Earth's gravity, and customers engaging the Air Adventure programs can experience up to 6 Gs, or 6 times the natural pull of the Earth.

For the Space Adventurer, customers can experience an authentic space launch profile, complete with the thrill of boosting into space, a visual overview of the Earth, and simulated weightlessness, and then the G forces of re-entry. As the official space-training provider for Virgin Galactic, the NASTARSM Center has trained many their customers already to properly prepare themselves for their actual space launch. The NASTARSM Center brings the same level of high-quality simulation to the launch experience, giving Air and Space Adventure Program customers a thrill they'll never forget.

The NASTARSM Center has several programs to choose from that accommodate different goals and desires. Customers can sign up individually, or in groups. For more information, and to view the Air and Space Adventures video, visit

www.NASTARcenter.com/adventures.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

The first Indian space tourist

spacet248

Ahmedabad: A 21-year-old science graduate from Ahmedabad has won the `Bindaas Go to Space Contest' on a TV channel. And with that he will also become the first Indian space tourist.

 

Meet Hardik Gajjar – he has own won the `Bindaas Go to Space Contest' on a TV channel.

 

Congratulatory messages are pouring in ever since news spread that he's won a TV channel contest to secure a chance to go into space.

His passion for song, dance, humour and mimicry has won him several awards. But this surely is the highest honour that he could have ever imagined.

Asked in the initial rounds of the contest why he wants to go into space, Hardik said, “I told them its because I wanted to know how one answers nature's call in space."

But the contest to become the first Indian space tourist was not easy. Seven finalists from across the country battled it out, testing their wit, general knowledge and ability to adapt to different situations.

Hardik, who will be formally declared winner on Sunday, will train at NASA. The rocket plane XP commandeered by former NASA astronaut John Herrington will take him into space next year. Hardik is still at a loss of words to describe his luck.

“I have no words to express myself, may be my expressions can, " Hardik added.

And the family is overjoyed as well.

Hardik's sister Amita said, "We are all excited and happy. Its great that he will go into space."

Hardik’s feat is not just about winning a talent competition. In doing so, he has come one of a billion Indians to be able to visit space.

Source: ibnlive.com

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Do you want to join the 68 - mile high club with Richard Branson?

By Damon Syson

The ultimate holiday destination is not longer a seven-star hotel or a remote Caribbean island. In fact it is only 68 miles away - yet it will cost you £300k to get there. Richard Branson takes LIVE on an exclusive tour of his space centre



Hi, I'm Richard Branson and my hobbies are… "mad sports, I suppose."

Branson, his 22-year-old son Sam and I are sitting in the classroom of the National Aerospace Training and Research Center (Nastar) in Pennsylvania.

We're preparing to experience a simulated suborbital space flight.

Our instructor, Glenn King, complete with military-style short hair, has introduced himself and now it's the turn of his pupils.



Richard Branson in the cockpit of the space flight simulator

King is a former jet pilot and US Special Forces HALO (high-altitude, low-opening) skydiving instructor, with 1,200 jumps to his name.

Beside him is a lugubrious-looking doctor who will be monitoring our hearts with an electrocardiogram during the flight.

"I'm here to ensure you have a safe day," he says solemnly. "But if you have an unsafe day, we can handle that as well."

This is the "academic" part of today's programme – a crash course in the effects of G-force.

During today's "flight" in the £15 million centrifuge chamber, we will be subjected to a maximum of 6G.

King explains that high G-forces cause blood to pool in your lower extremities, depriving the brain of oxygen.

This can result in G-loc – loss of consciousness.

"Just enjoy yourself," he says.

"You'll feel your face pulling and your voice will change – but that's all normal.

"Try touching your nose. But be careful not to poke yourself in the eye, because at 6G your hand is six times heavier."

We troop upstairs to a viewing room above the chamber while Branson takes his place in the gondola at the end of a 25ft-long rotating steel arm.

Settling into the seat, he looks nervous.

He runs his hand through his hair and chews his lower lip. A "launch attendant" tightens his straps, clips a pulse oximeter on to his index finger and gives him a final good-luck pat on the shoulder before closing the metal door with a resounding clunk.

Branson is now alone in the cockpit. He's still chatting and cracking jokes but beneath the trademark grin his teeth are gritted.

There's a mild jolt as the 4,000hp engine whirs into action, and then a synthetic-sounding female voice comes over the intercom: "Release from White KnightTwo begins in five… four… three… two… one."

The cockpit lurches forward. "OK, Richard, you're in flight at 50,000ft,~" says King. "Enjoy your ride."

The massive steel arm begins its sweep round the chamber, and Branson's body is pinned back into the seat, his mouth pulled into a taut grimace.

As his vocal cords are pushed against his spine, his voice sounds strangled. But this doesn't stop him breaking into a huge grin. "Yes!" he shouts. "We're going to space!"

Then it's my turn. I'm taken into a medical room, where the doctor takes my pulse before attaching ECG pads to my chest.

On the way to the chamber I keep telling myself there's nothing to worry about but I have to admit I am nervous.

As I'm strapped into the pod, a familiar voice comes over the intercom. "It's Richard here. I just wanted to wish you luck. Have a great trip."

The gondola then pitches forward and I'm off. The initial "ascent" lasts 70 seconds and feels like the most intense curve of a truly gut-churning roller-coaster.

I find myself grimacing involuntarily and my chest feels as if it has a heavy weight pressing on it.

I concentrate on pushing down with my feet and tensing my legs as I have been taught.

Thankfully, before I know it the worst is over and I'm able to relax and enjoy the ride.

The most surprising thing are the visuals.

With three screens in front of you and various cool-looking dials, you really do feel like you're in a spaceship.

The rear-view screen is especially impressive – I watch the coast of southern California vanishing behind me before everything suddenly goes quiet and black and I'm in space.

On the way down, the feeling is even more bizarre.

My cheeks are pulled back and it feels as if a hippo is sitting on my lap.

But it's only a minor discomfort, and by concentrating on my breathing I'm able to relax and enjoy the weirdness of it all.

I have experienced a simulation of space travel, but within two years, customers will be doing it for real on Branson's space-tourism venture.

Two hundred people have already signed up to go into space with Virgin Galactic.

Those who have stumped up the $200,000 (£100,000) for the first 100 seats will have a three-hour round trip and join a seriously exclusive club.

The vessel, SpaceShipTwo, will not be able to achieve orbit but will carry passengers on brief ballistic arcs outside the atmosphere, 68 miles above Earth.

There they will experience four minutes of weightlessness, the total silence of space and one hell of a view.

Unclipping their seatbelts and floating around the cabin, the "tourists" will be surrounded by the darkness of space but able to see the curvature of the Earth and 1,000 miles in any direction.

So from the north of Scotland you could see Iceland, the Norwegian fjords and the length of Britain.

The experience will be brief.

The "slingshot" method means the craft skims the edge of space then falls back.

The spacecraft will pass back into the atmosphere, gliding to Earth and making a normal runway landing.

On the inaugural flight, Branson has decided to take his family – his parents, Eve, 83, and Ted, 91, his daughter Holly, 26, and his son, Sam.

The final seat will be occupied by aerospace engineer Burt Rutan, who designed Virgin Galactic's prototype spacecraft.

It's not every day you see a knight of the realm, a man with a personal fortune of £4 billion, standing before you wearing only socks, pants and a grey vest.

But then again, Sir Richard Branson is no ordinary multi-billionaire.

It's Sunday night and he's just flown into Philadelphia from Necker Island (the 74-acre private retreat in the British Virgin Islands that he bought for £180,000 in 1978) and come straight to the hotel room for his Live photo-shoot.

With David Bowie's Space Oddity playing in the background, the photographer gestures to the space suit we've provided and asks hesitantly, "We were wondering if you'd wear this, Richard."

Branson starts unbuckling his belt…

We'd been warned that he was tired, but you wouldn't know it.

The veteran of thousands of photo-shoots, he gets to work without fuss.

"Can we have you smiling, please, Richard?"

"It's a lot easier when there's a pretty girl behind you," he says, grinning cheekily at the make-up artist, the first of a succession of minor flirtations he conducts with several attractive females in the vicinity.

Branson is an old-school ladies' man. If it moves he will flirt with it, even though he has been with his wife, Joan, for more than 30 years.

Although you wouldn't know it at the time, he confesses later that he felt uneasy about donning the space suit.

He is no stranger to dressing up for the cause but this time he thinks the product is dramatic enough without him needing to try too hard.

He's also aware of claims by some that he is a chancer who survives on publicity stunts.

"I think we can be pretty cool about this one," he says over dinner that evening.

"I think it will promote itself. Once we unveil what the spaceship looks like, it's so breathtaking it'll sell itself."

This uncharacteristic coyness could also be the result of a nasty scare six weeks ago when Branson jumped off the 407ft Palms Hotel in Las Vegas in a parachute harness to promote the launch of his no-frills US airline Virgin America.

Instead of gliding smoothly to the ground, he smashed into the side of the building.

When I ask him if he still considers himself an adrenaline junkie, he replies: "Was I ever an adrenaline junkie? Maybe I was. Well, having nearly killed myself when I jumped off that building, I guess not any more.

"I hit the building once, fortunately on my backside. Then I hit it again, and the second time I thought, “****, I've broken my back.”

"When I got to the bottom I felt like a rag doll. I had no idea what damage I'd done. Fortunately, it was mainly just to my ego."

Branson may have a reputation as a daredevil but he needs to play that down over the next couple of years.

Convincing the public that you can safely transport them beyond the Earth's atmosphere in a massive firework is a lot harder if people think of you as someone who has a habit of crashing into things.

As things stand, there is no insurance available to Virgin Galactic's customers, although companies are looking into it.

Because space tourism is in its infancy, underwriters are still assessing the risks involved.

But Branson is keen to stress that his latest endeavour is the opposite of an adrenaline ride.

"Virgin Galactic is all about making space travel comfortable and safe," he says.

"That's the only way we're going to pull it off.

"It's potentially like being at the beginning of transatlantic air travel. Those flights were very expensive in the Twenties.

"But after 20 or 30 years most people had a chance of experiencing it once in their lives.

"It's our aim to get the price down to a level where people can think, “Am I going to go to Australia on holiday – or am I going to go into space?”"

Will Whitehorn – president of Virgin Galactic and one of Branson's most trusted consiglieri – claims that making Virgin Galactic a profitable business will take about three years of flying.

"Our business plan depends on us taking up about 40,000 people in ten years.

"But if we're successful in filling all the flights, we'll be profitable within three years.

"Once we've achieved that we can start to bring down the price.

"Our ambition is to begin reducing the price by year five so that by the end of a ten-year programme the cost in today's money will be about $75,000 (£38,000). At that point the market will grow exponentially."

Whitehorn dimisses the suggestion that space tourism already exists in the form of Space Adventures, a company that will arrange a stay on the International Space Station – assuming you have £10 million and nine months of your life to spare.

"Space Adventures allows people to join a Russian mission as private individuals – for a large fee," says Whitehorn. "That's not tourism."

The long-term plan is for Virgin Galactic's space craft, SpaceShipTwo, to be able to take off from any number of locations.

It is already planning flights from Kiruna in northern Sweden, 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle, which they hope will be able to travel through the aurora borealis.

"Nobody knows what that looks like from inside," says Whitehorn.

"Although people have fired test rockets underneath it and the Space Shuttle has photographed it from above, no human being has actually been through the aurora borealis.

"We imagine it will look very ethereal, like a mist of ionised particles."

But environmentalists are far from excited by the prospect.

Friends of the Earth has branded Virgin Galactic's plans "elitist and irresponsible".

Whitehorn counters that the CO2 emissions per passenger for a suborbital space trip will be 25 per cent lower than a return flight from London to New York.

"The carbon-composite structure of WhiteKnightTwo [the mothership that carries the spacecraft up to 50,000ft] is extremely light and therefore very efficient," he says.

"It has the wingspan of a Boeing 757 but you can stand at one end and lift it."

Branson himself is a relatively new convert to the environmental cause.

Formerly a climate-change sceptic, his Damascene moment occurred when Al Gore popped round for dinner and gave him a two-hour lecture.

Since then Branson has been filled with evangelical zeal.

In 2006, as part of the Clinton Global Initiative, he pledged to direct all the profits from Virgin's transport sectors, including Virgin Atlantic – an estimated £1.5 billion over ten years – to Virgin Fuels, dedicated to developing alternative, environmentally friendly fuel sources.

But it can't be easy being an environmentalist when you own an airline; life must have been much simpler before the scales were lifted from his eyes.

"Yes, much simpler" he agrees.

Branson has also set up the Virgin Earth Challenge, which is offering a $25 million prize to anyone who comes up with a viable means of extracting CO2 out of the atmosphere.

"Every single scientific institution in the world should be working on nothing else," he says. "It's that critical."

As well as being a very public sop for his conscience, if the prize does result in a breakthrough then Branson will be perfectly placed to market it and earn a handsome profit, while at the same time coming across as the saviour of the planet.

He's quick to admit that "doing good" and "earning shedloads of cash" don't have to be mutually exclusive.

"You have to have a passion and believe you can create something you're really proud of," he says.

"But the chances are that, if it follows those criteria, an enormous number of people will be as interested and excited as you are and therefore it's likely you'll be able to pay your bills."

The next morning, Branson's press officer calls at 6:45am. "Richard is having breakfast and wondered if you'd like to join him."

Branson is waiting in the hotel restaurant in an open-necked white linen shirt. His attitude to fashion is famously laid-back.

He was once photographed wearing shoes that didn't match, and his old British Airways sparring partner Lord King sneeringly referred to him as "the grinning pullover".

His clothes today (brown jacket and jeans) are smart enough but his shoes (battered black slip-ons) look distinctly high-street.

Still, it's a step up from the early days of Virgin, when he would hold meetings with his Coutts & Co bank manager barefoot.

They once told him that, if he ever turned up wearing shoes, they knew he was after a really big loan.

Thirty-seven years on, there's still a bit of the barefoot hippy about him, even though that's at odds with running 250 companies with a combined turnover of £10 billion.

It's part of the Branson enigma. Whitehorn describes him as "ruthlessly capitalist in business but socially communist".

For the next hour, until it's time to depart for the Nastar centre, we talk about his hopes for Virgin Galactic.

At the start, Branson is surprisingly nervous and inarticulate, his speech peppered with ums, ahs and unfinished sentences, as if he gets bored with what he's saying before he's finished saying it.

He stares down into his tea, tugs nervously at his napkin and fiddles with his signet ring (worn unconventionally on the fourth finger rather than the little finger). But after a few minutes he relaxes.

His phone rings – he must be the only person in the world who still has the original Nokia ringtone – and he has a brief conversation during which he asks:

"Have you been to see the Bank of England yet?" No prizes for guessing what they're talking about.

Virgin Galactic may be the main focus today, but there is also the little matter of trying to buy a bank to be getting on with.

Are you in the middle of Northern Rock negotiations, I ask when he comes off the phone.

"Yes," he says.

"It's certainly the most complicated deal we've ever done and we're crossing our fingers it'll all get sorted soon." The conversation returns to Virgin Galactic.

Back on safer territory, Branson visibly relaxes.

He describes how in 1991 he registered the name Virgin Galactic "just for fun, because I loved the name".

But at the same time he set himself the task of meeting all the scientists who might be capable of building a re-usable space ship.

"I met some wonderful, weird people," he says.

"The best way of going into any new business is to be bold and get out there and try to make sure that if there's any breakthrough you're there for it.

"The same applies for our clean-fuel business.

"We've put ourselves up as the company that's going to come up with an alternative fuel, so anybody who does come up with an idea is likely to come to Virgin. The same applied to space travel."

So how much will it cost him? So far, Virgin has spent about £35 million, though by the time it starts making test flights it will have invested more than £50 million.

To bring the programme to commercial viability will involve a total investment of about £125 million – which sounds remarkably low when you consider that Nasa's annual budget is about £8 billion.

But will there be enough people who can afford the experience – and who feel excited enough about what is such a brief thrill – for Virgin to make money out of the venture?

"Yes," he says.

"And the dollar's gone down about 35 per cent since we set the price. So it's a great bargain for British people!

"No, seriously, there are certainly people who could afford it at that level but, obviously, to get hundreds of thousands to be able to afford it, we've got to get the price down.

"That's going to be the challenge over the next ten years.

"I've basically led my life on the basis that saying yes is a lot more fun than saying no. It's led me into some very interesting situations."

Nonetheless, Branson must be nervous. All it takes is one major setback, one unfortunate incident, and the business will be dead in the water.

"If you're pioneering something as large and exciting as this, you have to accept there are going to be knock-backs," he says.

"In attempting to go around the world in a balloon I ended up having to be pulled out of the sea five times by helicopter, so I'm not the sort of person who gives up easily.

"But because SpaceShipOne has proved it is possible to go to space and return safely three times, we know this is do-able.

"And we've got the best rocket scientists working on it. Yes, there will be horrible hiccups along the way but hopefully not too many. I'm convinced we can succeed."

He looks up, suddenly filled with visionary zeal. "I really believe we're at the birth of something big," he says. "This is just the beginning.

"We're starting with suborbital flights, and then we'll move on to orbital flights, then in time I'd hope to see a Virgin hotel just off the Moon where we can set up small spaceships that can be programmed to take guests round the Moon using the Moon's gravity."

So, in his mind's eye, does he imagine sexy, Barbarella-style flight attendants in Virgin uniform, floating around the cabin? "I have no problem fantasising about that at all," he chuckles.

"The Spaceport is going to be the sexiest building on Earth. The spaceship is going to be the sexiest spaceship ever built.

"The mothership is going to be the sexiest mothership. And yes, we may well have crew on board who will be reminiscent of Barbarella…

"There may even be cabin crew on the spaceship. It's not beyond the realms of possibility – and we've got lots of girls who've already put their hands up and said they'd love to do it."

While Virgin Galactic's job for now is simply to get punters to and from space safely, it is also researching other possibilities for the future.

Branson believes the WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo system could be used as a super-fast method of travel.

"At present the Virgin Galactic flights are suborbital," he says.

"But if we could make a bigger SpaceShipTwo, with more power on the rocket motor, we could take people beyond the Earth's atmosphere, and transport people in space. New York to Sydney could be completed in two-and-a-half hours rather than the 26 hours it now takes."

Sceptics have poured scorn on this idea, arguing that the speed necessary to punch right out of the atmosphere and reach orbit would be 17,500mph, while SpaceShipTwo's top speed is 3,500mph. But Branson is unconcerned.

Part of the secret of his success is his unflinching optimism. He never believes things will go wrong until he's dangling from the rescue helicopter rope or being lowered down the side of a building.

Branson doesn't think he's part of a space race, but there is an element of national pride at play.

"For a British company to be the one offering the world flights into space would in itself be fantastic.

"I think it can be a successful business.

"The fact that we've already got $30 million in deposits in the bank indicates that it can. And 80,000 people have already expressed an interest via the website."

On a final note, I ask him what it is about space that inspires him, 38 years after he watched the Moon landing on his fuzzy black-and-white TV in a squat in Notting Hill.

"Everything," he says. "The view, the weightlessness, the sheer majesty of it. I love to do things I've never done before. It's certainly the biggest thing Virgin's ever done – and it's my biggest adventure." Visit virgingalactic.com

Friday, January 4, 2008

Eight-Year-Old Boy Enjoys Adventure of A Lifetime as Youngest Person in History to Experience Zero Gravity Flight

Eight-year-old boys dream of being superheroes -- flying high above the clouds with nothing to limit themselves but their imaginations. For young adventurer Danner Cronise, Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G (R)), the first and only FAA-approved provider of commercial weightless flights, turned this dream into reality and enabled Danner to fly like Superman and enjoy 10-times more hang-time than the world's best basketball player -- all while making history as the youngest person ever to experience a weightless flight.

Danner's adventure truly was a family affair, as he was joined by his father Ray, and older sisters Erin (10) and Alex (12). A NASA engineer for more than 15 years and a co-founder of ZERO-G, Ray Cronise had a unique and personal reason for wanting to see his children enjoy weightlessness first hand. "It is awe inspiring to be able to take your kids on such a memorable experience. Being exposed to these kinds of adventures kindles curiosity and keeps them dreaming," said Ray. Each of his three children had different reasons for loving their ZERO-G experience:
-- Danner loved being tossed like a ball across the plane cabin and was
fascinated to see how droplets of water hovered in the air before his
eyes during zero gravity. On being the youngest person ever to
experience a weightless flight, Danner said, "It makes me feel good and
very lucky. The flight was so cool. I was floating and flipping, just
like the astronauts in space." He added, "I showed my friends pictures
and they all want to go now too. Can I do it again next week?"

-- Erin, an aspiring gymnast, said her favorite part was "being able to do
a back flip without needing someone to spot me like in class; I felt
like the best gymnast in the world! During one of the first weightless
moments, I did a back handspring -- I was so excited!"

-- Alex, the eldest of the three, loved every moment and was especially
amused when her coach told her to release a handful of M&M's into the
air so she could watch them float before her and chase them down like
PacMan. When asked if she would do it again, Alex responded, "Of course
I would! It's the most fun thing ever that I have ever done -- more fun
than Disneyworld!"


Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, CEO and Co-Founder of ZERO-G said, "The most important part about the Cronise's family adventure is that it underscores what is at the core of the ZERO-G philosophy. We break the paradigm of this incredible sensation of floating being reserved for fairy tales or second-hand experiences and enable people to really fly and feel and see it first-hand. There is no comparison for the experience that ZERO-G delivers -- it is pure exhilaration from the moment you arrive, throughout the flight, and lives on through many talks with others that have never been."

The experience offered by ZERO-G is the only commercial opportunity on Earth for individuals to experience true "weightlessness" without going to space. The ZERO-G Experience consists of a brief training session for passengers followed by a 90-minute flight aboard G-Force One. Each ZERO-G mission is designed for maximum fun. The aircraft's interior is a zero gravity playroom, complete with padded floors and walls and video cameras to record the unforgettable moments. The flight includes 15 weightless experiences (parabolas) that last approximately 30 seconds each and range from low-gravity environments typical of the moon (1/6 G) and Mars (1/3 G) to complete weightlessness; ZERO-G delivers twice the amount of weightless time achieved in a typical sub-orbital flight into space. ZERO-G operates under the highest safety standards as set by the FAA (Part-121) with its partner Amerijet International of Ft. Lauderdale Florida. Aircraft operations take place under the same regulations set for large commercial passenger airliners.

Weightless flight is an experience that few have tried, but those who have call it amazing and life-changing. Martha Stewart, Professor Stephen Hawking, Princess Beatrice of York, Amy Grant, Billy Bush, Burt Rutan, Miles O'Brien, and cast members of "The Apprentice," and "The Biggest Loser" are just a few notable passengers who've flown with ZERO-G. Numerous astronauts including Buzz Aldrin and Anousheh Ansari also have experienced ZERO-G voyages. ZERO-G has played a major role in several blockbuster hits including Matrix 2 and Matrix 3. Since launching the ZERO-G Experience to the general public in September 2004, the company has conducted more than 100 weightless flights and flown over 3,000 passengers, including celebrities and media personalities, corporate charters, science and math teachers, and individuals age 12 to 93.

About ZERO-G

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Las Vegas, ZERO-G is led by a world-class team of veteran astronauts and experienced business leaders. The company was co-founded by X PRIZE Chairman and space visionary, Dr. Peter H. Diamandis; and veteran astronaut, Dr. Byron K. Lichtenberg. The duo spent more than a decade working to bring the marvel of weightless flight to the public.

The ZERO-G Experience (TM), which includes training led by a professional astronaut, a flight of 15 parabolas, flight suit, complimentary merchandise, awards, a post-event party, photos, and a DVD of the flight, is offered at a price of $3,500 per seat. For the current flight schedule, more information or to book a seat, visit http://www.GoZeroG.com, http://www.sharperimage.com or call 1-800-937-6480.

ZERO-G flights also may be chartered for private events. Since 2004, individual groups of family and friends to top- tier consumer brands like American Express, Hewlett-Packard, Google and Cadbury Schweppes have chartered ZERO-G flights. The ZERO-G Experience builds deep common memories that no ordinary gravity-bound exercise can equal. It is a unique way to express gratitude to important clients and partners. Flights can be rewards, incentives, celebrations and even revenue mechanisms for charitable institutions.

 http://www.GoZeroG.com/