Tra qualche settimana Virgin Galactic, fondata dal miliardario Branson, lancera' il primo volo nello spazio con uno o due passeggeri paganti a bordo.
Dopo essersi staccato dalla madre, l'aereo spaziale dovra' raggiungere le 50 miglia per poter far dichiarare a Branson di avere raggiunto lo spazio.
Dal 2011 gli americani non lanciano piu' uomini nello spazio dopo il ritiro operativo degli Shuttle.
Sino ad ora il cambio equipaggi della stazione spaziale e' assicurato a caro prezzo dai russi.
(The Washington Post)
Story by Christian Davenport
MOJAVE, Calif.
Rocket engine lit, and they were off. Within seconds, the spacecraft crested 600 mph, fast approaching the speed of sound. Then, suddenly, there was the surreal sensation of the wings ripping off as if they were made of paper.
Debris littered the desert floor. And in the wreckage, first-responders found the lifeless body of the co-pilot, Michael Alsbury, a father of two, then ages 10 and 7, still strapped into his seat. Miraculously, the pilot survived a nearly 10-mile fall.
That day in 2014 had started with such promise. The hope that Virgin Galactic, the company founded by Richard Branson, was on the verge of finally fulfilling the dream of flying tourists to space.
Today, four years later, the company says it is once again at that moment. Branson, chastened by the crash and the ensuing federal investigation, recently said that the company is “more than tantalizingly close” and that “we should be in space within weeks, not months.”
Virgin Galactic’s next flight of SpaceShipTwo, its winged and sporty space plane, is scheduled for launch in the coming weeks and could, after years of trying, give Branson his long elusive conquest of blasting through the atmosphere. It would mark a historic milestone for Virgin and Branson, a master of marketing and hype who for years has become an evangelist for space exploration.
Since the space shuttle retired in 2011, not a single human being has launched to space from U.S. soil. If Virgin is able to make it, the company would not just restore that capability, but it would become the first to fly people in a new space race of ventures backed by a group of billionaires — Elon Musk, Jeffrey P. Bezos and Branson. They are vying to fly humans and ultimately open up space to the masses, but along the way they have faced repeated delays and setbacks with their human spaceflight programs. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Perhaps no venture has more encapsulated the triumphs and agonies of the effort to open the frontier than Virgin Galactic, founded by Branson more than a decade ago with the loftiest of ambitions.
Virgin has faced all sorts of problems, especially as it tried to build a new rocket engine. But Branson has steadfastly stood before the cameras promising the stars, a Disney ride to the expanse only a big-thinking billionaire could offer.
