Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Unveils First Spaceship

The spaceflight division of Richard Branson's company, Virgin Galactic, unveiled it's proto-type for a spaceship that will carry tourists to the stars.

For more details, read here.

This remarkable feat is bittersweet, however, because an explosion at the spaceport in Mojave killed three, and critically injured three more.

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See more photos here.

Comments

[Britisher]

There's one potential drawback--you never know how you'll react to weightlessness until you experience it. If Virgin Atlantic expects to run the operation like an ordinary chartered flight ( that is just get on and go) they are bound to end up with someone puking all over the cabin.

[dryfactoidobotanoid]

so, what ever happened to Branson & Gore's 25 million dollar prize for the best solution to climate change?

I guess he's keeping it for himself, to spew more carbon into the atmosphere so people can look down on the dying planet from space.

[Exusian]

Great, just what we need, more CO2 and water vapor in the stratosphere, exactly where CO2 is most potent as a greenhouse gas, and where H2O can mroe redily react with ozone, which we want to keep in the stratosphere.

So much for Sir Richard's environmentally friendly ar travel.

[KOisGod]

I love Branson.

This guys a "WHY NOT" dreamer. Don't we need more like him and less *evil doer's* talk.?

Dream on Richard - this is how humanity moves ahead.

[loki]

HE's been talking about this ever since Bert Rutan won the X prize. You would think he would stop talking and actually have something built. Knowing Branson's past, I would have thought he would have had a working ship and launch pad by now.

[esquire07]

It is good that Humanity is doing so well that the very privledged few will be able to take a "ride in space," while 90% of the World is living below poverty level and killing one another.

[gcallaghan]

This might actually be useful. How about we all chip in and get inaugural flight tickets for the boards of Halliburton and Blackwater as a tribute to their service to our country.

After all, what are the odds of them making it both up there AND back?

[realitytrumpsbull]

Richard Branson's one of the Rich Kids I wouldn't actually mind working for...he's got some dreams happenin', there, and the 21st century may well flesh out to be the domain of dreamers, inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs, maybe it's kind of always been that way...but what we've got today for a status quo brings it into sharp relief...h­ey, Richard, Denny's on the moon...waf­fles in 1/6th gravity. I work cheap.

[traveler501]

I like how you threw in that "explosion" reference.­..implying what, that the spaceship itself is dangerous? Yeah...I don't doubt there was an explosion of something there, but if you think you didn't throw a nasty and unfounded pejorative at the the whole project, well...the­n you need to back off about Hillary and her claim that Obama was suggesting Repub's "ideas" were good. You're both playing the same game.

[MichiganJFrog]

Frogs LOVE zero-g!!!!

[Dendroica]

Uhmm, that ain't photos, that's "photoshops".

What a spectacular job of journalism there Huffington Post, no wonder this place is so full of shitty news stories.

[humuhumunukunukuapuaa]

Carry tourists "to the stars"??

Why I hope and pray they mean that figuratively because that spaceship, as neat, high-tech and sophisticated as it is, will be incapable of even going into Earth's orbit, going for sub-orbital flights instead. Impressive, but still some 23,462,784,000,000 miles short of the nearest star.

[Nochnoi]

Where do I sign up?

Very cool.....