ch19079 Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/xpriz...l_coverage.html 10 mil dollar prize for the frist commercial space flight. just landed a few min. ago will be taking 3 people on a trip to space. no word as to how much per flight. only 3 or so min. in space though.... and the BILLIONARE of Virgin just happens to want to buy 5 more jets. cashing in on the future space turism. it must be nice to be that rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 WoooooooooooooooooooooooooHooooooooooooooooooooooooooo As bummed as I am about the Bills, watching that made my day. As a NSS member since way back when, I've been cheering SSOne on in the race for the X Prize ever since I first heard about it at Dr. P's site (http://www.jerrypournelle.com). NASA's been too bureaucrat-icized for too long; if we're going to space, THIS is the way we'll get there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestojan Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 this is one of the coolest things to happen in a while... i just have one question ... and correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems like it would cost a hell of a lot more that $10M to get a aircraft to outer space twice, considering R&D costs. . . So, isnt the prize a little small? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobody Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 The whole process has cost less than $30 million I think. Pretty impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 this is one of the coolest things to happen in a while... i just have one question ... and correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems like it would cost a hell of a lot more that $10M to get a aircraft to outer space twice, considering R&D costs. . . So, isnt the prize a little small? 55767[/snapback] Winning the $10 mill and the trophy is cool and all, but it isn't the entire point of the exercise. This is just the first step. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ch19079 Posted October 4, 2004 Author Share Posted October 4, 2004 10 million dollar prize, but they spent 30 million. its just the first step, like lori said. the Virgin Billionare has already invested a lot of cash in to it, and are planing to build 5 more i think. and eventually a freakin hotel in space or some crazy stevestojan. on the 40th anniversery of the russian sputnik (god i cant spell russian words...). and whats really interesting is that they dont use those heat resistant tiles the shuttle uses. its wings fold up to reduse the drag and they just fall back to earth and then fold the wings back in to place and glide down. the whole plane is composate material, and only 1 computer for guidance, (kinda like a GPS, and gives altitude and angle). everything else is done with levers. all manual. they even designed another plane (white knight) to take the "space ship 1" up to the correct altitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon in Pasadena Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 are planing to build 5 more i think. and eventually a freakin hotel in space or some crazy stevestojan. on the 40th anniversery of the russian sputnik (god i cant spell russian words...). 55911[/snapback] If they want to do it by Sputnik's 40th anniversary they'd better start working on that time machine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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