Friday, April 25, 2008

North Norfolk man's space dream

"EVERYBODY has a dream, mine happens to be expensive."

The words of Richard Burr, the north Norfolk man set to join an elite rank by becoming a 'space tourist' at the eye watering cost of $200,000 - around £100,000.

The 52-year-old property developer and businessman from Aylsham sits at number 205 on the list of people getting ready to board the first Virgin Galactic flights, which will allow ordinary folk to become astronauts.

Mr Burr has already stumped up £75,000 of the cash but still has something of a wait.

Those taking part will board a horizontally launched purpose built 'mothership' aircraft, which carries with it the spaceship, before being flown to a height where the spaceship can be detached and propelled into orbit. Two pilots and six passengers will be in the spaceship on each flight.

In January, Mr Burr travelled to New York to meet with other prospective astronauts, Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson and to attend the launch of the final design plans for the aircraft and spaceship.

The process now should see the finished aircraft and spaceship “rolled out” by July, tests conducted for several months, licences awarded and the first commercial flights by the end of next year, said Mr Burr.

“Because I am not top of the list I would expect to be up in early 2010, although that could change of course according to the process taking longer, or people dropping out.

“It's very exciting of course, but I wouldn't say I was excited in a schoolboy way, although that will probably come as it nears.

“The prospect of looking out of the window and seeing the stars and the earth is an incredible thought.

“People will think it is a huge amount of money, but bear in mind that if you look back to the first trans Atlantic flights, people were paying what would now be around £30,000 to get to America.”

The trip itself will be made from New Mexico and will last about two hours, made up of an aircraft climb of an hour, a spaceship boost into space in less than two minutes, a 'zero g' weightlessness experience of four to five minutes, a re-entry into the atmosphere of two minutes and a glided landing of 50 minutes.

Virgin Galactic have stated they hope to fly 500 people in the first year and 50,000 in the first 10 years.

Visit www.virgingalactic.com for more information.

Arab company charters space craft in world first

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A Dubai-based Arab company has become the first ever in the world to charter a space craft for its top management, ArabianBusiness.com can reveal.

The company last week handed over $500,000 as a deposit to Virgin Galactic, to charter one of the company’s commercial spacecrafts.

Details of the company are likely to be made public in July this year. Sources suggest the two hour flight in space will take place some time in 2010.

The total deal, the first ever of its kind, is worth $1.2 million. It is understood the deal was done through Sharaf Travel, Virgin Galactic’s UAE agent.

Virgin Galactic is expected to begin its commercial space flights next year, with tickets for the first 100 passengers going for $200,000 per passenger.

The Virgin Galactic experience involves boarding SpaceShipTwo which is attached to a mother-ship known as WhiteKnightTwo.

Following a run-way take-off the space craft will climb to an altitude of 50,000 feet where the spaceship will be released and the rocket ignited.

The rocket burn acceleration powers the spaceship to the speed of sound in just 10 seconds, and over three times the speed of sound in under 30 seconds.

The G-force surge will push the clients back into their seats as they head into the darkness of space to an altitude of 110 kilometres above the earth's surface.

When the rocket motor shuts down, all passengers, who by this stage are officially ‘astronauts', will experience the silence of space, and majestic views of earth as they float around the large cabin in zero gravity for four minutes.

The spaceship returns to earth, passing back through the atmosphere using a unique wing feathering technology to ensure stability and to minimize heat intensity, before making a normal runway landing.

In total the space flight will last for around two hours.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Entrepreneur talks space travel

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Greg Olsen, scientist, businessman and astronaut, came to the College on March 26 to tell his story in the New Library Auditorium.

Olsen nearly flunked out of high school, failing trigonometry and graduating with an overall average of 70. Coaxed into college, Olsen received his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and a master's degree in physics from Fairleigh Dickinson University. A doctorate in materials science from the University of Virginia followed afterwards.

From 1972-1983, Olsen worked as a research scientist for RCA labs. It was here where he got the idea to start his first company, Epitaxx.

"I had no background in business … until 1983 when I got the idea to start this tech company," Olsen said.

With $1.5 million in startup funds, the company focused on making fiber-optic detectors and soon employed up to 55 people and made $5 million a year. The company was bought out by Japanese company Nippon Sheet Glass for $12 million in 1990.

"In 1990 everybody thought Japan was going to rule the world economically," Olsen said. "We all hear about India and China now … Anybody who thinks the U.S. is gonna get left in the dust, just remember what happened in 1990."

Olsen started his second company, called Sensors Unlimited, in 1992. Sensors Unlimited was sold for $600 million in 2000 but Olsen bought the company back a year later for $6 million and later re-sold it for $60 million in 2003.

It was in June of that year that Olsen got the idea to travel into space.

"The inspiration to go to the International Space Station (ISS) came from this," Olsen said, holding up his coffee cup. "Every morning you can find me at the Starbucks on Nassau Street (in Princeton) reading the paper."

It was a chance reading during one particular Starbucks trip that introduced Olsen to Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth, the first two private citizens to board the ISS.

"Have you ever had that feeling where you've seen something and you said to yourself, 'I have to do this?'" Olsen asked.

By April of 2004 Olsen was in Russia training for his spaceflight. In June of that year he was disqualified for having a black spot on his lung.

"That was a devastating experience for me," Olsen said.

He got clearance from American doctors, and pressed the issue with the Russian doctors until he was allowed back into the program in May 2005.

"By February I didn't think that I would get to fly into space, but I just kept at it," Olsen said.

In October of that year, he and two other astronauts launched from Russia.

Olsen showed videos of his trip on the ISS with instructions on how to drink water and eat food. He also demonstrated basic properties of physics using a floating notebook.

Of his experience, Olsen said he was happy with how everything turned out.

"I don't consider myself an astronaut, but I feel like I was properly trained," he said.

Currently, Olsen is the chief executive officer of GHO Ventures and, in addition to managing a winery in South Africa and a ranch in Montana, he funds "Angel Projects," which are startup companies that he believes show promise.

"I love startups," Olsen said. "I thought, why don't I try investing in others?"

By Cameron Prince

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Next Space Tourist Takes Break from Spaceflight Training

By Tariq Malik

NEW YORK - The next space tourist bound for the International Space Station (ISS) is taking a breather from spaceflight training as he prepares to ride a Russian rocket toward the orbiting laboratory later this year.

American computer game developer Richard Garriott, 46, has returned to the U.S. after an intense six weeks of Russian classes and Soyuz spacecraft training for his planned October flight to the ISS. The one-month rest comes between a series of trips to Russia's cosmonaut training center in Star City, where he and backup Nik Halik have been wading through the intricacies of Soyuz spaceflight.

"In the Soyuz, all of the buttons and things are labeled in Russian, so you need to be able to read and understand a few technical words," Garriott told SPACE.com Friday, adding that he spent four hours each day learning the new language. "There's no question that learning Russian is a little bit of a challenge."

Based in Austin, Texas, Garriott is paying about $30 million to fly to the ISS with two professional astronauts in October under an agreement between Russia's Federal Space Agency and the Virginia-based tourism firm Space Adventures, which brokered the flight. He plans to conduct Earth observations and protein crystal growth experiments during his mission and launched an educational contest for British students to devise their own tests that he could perform.

In between language lessons, Garriott and Halik spent four hours each day studying Soyuz spacecraft training manuals and exploring Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

"One of the things that I didn't know was there while we were kicking around was that they have a wonderful planetarium," Garriott said, adding that he and Halik hope to visit the planetarium during their next training session. "It's a surprisingly open place."

The two entrepreneurs were careful to keep out of restricted zones and adhere to training protocol. Russian space officials recently replaced South Korea's first astronaut choice, artificial intelligence expert Ko San, for an April 8 launch due to regulation infractions. Ko's backup, female mechanical engineer Yi So-yeon, will take his place during the upcoming spaceflight.

Halik, 38, is an Australian entrepreneur who is paying $3 million to serve as Garriott's backup and experience genuine spaceflight training.

"Though Nik and I had not really known each other before training together in Star City, it turns out we've lived very parallel lives," said Garriott, adding that both he and his backup have taken adventure trips to Antarctica, rode aboard submersibles down to the wreck of the Titanic, experienced weightless on aircraft and flown Russian MiG jets. "Because we have that same adventurous spirit and similar background, training together has been actually really convenient and also given us a well-rounded opportunity to share this experience together."

Garriott developed the Ultima computer game series and co-founded the Origins Systems computer game company as well as the North American branch of the online game developer NCsoft. He hopes to spend his month off from training to catching up with his work. But, Garriott added, he did happen to be in Russia training for spaceflight in early February, when his most recent game "Tabula Rasa" hit stores in Moscow in its Russian packaging.

"Getting a chance to sit down with the players was actually great fun for me and hopefully they enjoyed it as well," Garriott said.

Garriott has expressed an interest in paying an extra $15 million to stage the first spacewalk by a private spaceflyer, though whether the activity could come together in time for his flight is up in the air. He has already been fitted for his Russian Sokol spacesuit, the partial pressure garment that he will wear during launch and landing, but not one worthy of a spacewalk.

"Of course I would love to do it if it could be done," said Garriott, adding that he hopes to put together some sort of simple, feasible science experiment in case it opportunity arises.

Garriott will be the sixth paying visitor to the ISS, but the first American second-generation spaceflyer to reach orbit. His father, Owen Garriott, is a retired NASA astronaut who flew aboard the U.S. Skylab space station and shuttle Columbia, and will serve as chief scientist for the coming spaceflight.

"One of the more interesting aspects of working with my father on this flight is what an appreciation it's given me for the challenges that my dad faced during his time with NASA," the younger Garriott said. "The sense of urgency to get all your ducks in a row and get things lined up appropriately has been high."

Richard Garriott is chronicling his spaceflight training and mission at his personal Web site: www.richardinspace.com.

Love in Zero Gravity

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Boing Boing fan Sarah McKinley Oakes says,
This past weekend I went on a Zero-G flight out of Las Vegas, and was thrilled to see that they use shots of your flight in the training video (I loudly said 'I know her' and then realized that that was, of course, a lie). Thought you'd like to know, it was very cool.

While floating around in no gravity, my boyfriend proposed.

It was great.
Congratulations, Sarah! Link to their lovely Flickr set.

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Space Adventures' Orbital Spaceflight Client, Richard Garriott, Announces Educational Partnership with Challenger Center for Space Science Education

Richard Garriott is a preeminent game developer and son of NASA Skylab Astronaut Owen Garriott.  As the next civilian to fly into space, Richard plans to follow the lead of Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan, STS-118, through interactive lessons that will motivate and inspire students.  His flight is currently scheduled for lift-off to the International Space Station on October 12, 2008.  Richard is a former student of Dr. June Scobee Rodgers, the Founding Chairman of Challenger Center for Space Science Education and widow of that flight's Commander, Dick Scobee.  After the tragic loss of the Challenger space shuttle crew, Richard worked with Dr. Scobee Rodgers on the design of the first Challenger Learning Center.  There are now over 50 Challenger Learning Centers in the United States, Canada, England and South Korea.  Richard will continue the mission of Teacher-in-Space Christa McAuliffe, as did Barbara Morgan, as he delivers activities and challenges from the International Space Station.  Garriott's flight activities have the potential to reach children across the globe as he reaches out from the first Challenger Learning Center off the planet.

Garriott plans to spend time before, during and after his flight working with students, teachers and the 50 Challenger Learning Centers located in the United States, England, Canada and South Korea. He plans to conduct a series of interactive webcasts associated with his spaceflight training in Russia; conduct podcasts discussing activities related to both his training and spaceflight; hold amateur ham radio conversations with students during his flight; and perform experiments that can be replicated by students using everyday objects to demonstrate important concepts in physics. Students can predict what might happen during the same experiment in the microgravity (weightless) environment of space. 

Dr. June Scobee Rodgers plans to present lessons to students over the web in preparation for Richard Garriott’s flight. “Like father, like son,” says Dr. Rodgers, commenting on her former student's plans. “Dr. Owen Garriott also taught student science lessons from space on his Skylab mission, as Richard plans to do on his flight.” Richard Garriott’s experiments, webcasts, and podcasts about his flight will be available on the Challenger Center’s national website, www.challenger.org.

Challenger Center for Space Science Education was founded in 1986 by the families of the astronauts of the space shuttle Challenger 51-L mission. It is dedicated to the educational spirit of that mission and impacts over 300,000 students and 25,000 teachers each year. Challenger Learning Center programs at 50 centers around the world continue the crew's mission of engaging teachers and students in science, mathematics, engineering and technology. To locate a Challenger Learning Center near you, visit www.challenger.org.