Virgin Signs Deal With SpaceShipOne Designer
POSTED: Monday, September 27, 2004
A ticket may soon be all that separates you from a dream voyage to the final frontier.
British entrepreneur Richard Branson said Virgin company -- which includes an airline -- plans to start offering commercial space flights over the next few years.
He said he's signed a deal with pioneering aviation designer Burt Rutan to build an aircraft based on Rutan's SpaceShipOne vessel that recently became the first manned, private vehicle to go into space.Branson called the new venture Virgin Galactic and said it will carry 3,000 people to space within five years.A news release said the company will open for business in 2005, and could start flights in 2007.No word on what a ticket to the stars will cost, but he said the company's purpose is to make "space travel more and more affordable."SpaceShipOne is considered the leading contender for the $10 million X-Prize. That award goes to the first civillian team to put three people into space twice in two weeks.In June, Rutan's Scaled Composites -- funded largely by Microsoft millionaire Paul Allen -- had a successful test flight with one person on board. The team is scheduled to begin shooting for the prize Sept. 29, with a repeat flight in early October.Allen's Mojave Aerospace owns the rights to the designs. In a news release on Scaled Composite's Web site, the company asid the deal could be wirth $21.5 million of the next 15 years.
Previous Stories:
- July 27, 2004: SpaceShipOne To Shoot For $10M Prize
- June 21, 2004: Private Company Becomes First To Put Man In Space
- June 20, 2004: Private Space Craft Prepared For Launch
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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