Brandon off on his 1.5 hour jolly into the outer atmosphere later today at 14:00 uk Feed here.

http://www.virgingalactic.com/

Like of loath the guy, it’s pretty impressive.

Actually it is impressive. Interesting to see how he gets on, and whether the tourism business actually picks up. If I had the money, no way would I be on the first flight, but a few in, yes I might be tempted…

Space…. or near space?
Not sure about the talk of dropping the karman line to be conveniently below their flight peak.

I can’t be only one hoping for a particular outcome to this flight?

I can’t be only one hoping for a particular outcome to this flight?

Are you insinuating that it goes wrong with a bang ?!?
If so pretty bad taste…

This just seems like a bit of a dead end to me. I’m not sure quite what it achieves as i think the X series rocket ships were going higher in the early 60s…

I though he was soo poor he couldn’t bail out his own airline?

Him and Bez can stay up there.

Not really space is it?.

I can’t be only one hoping for a particular outcome to this flight?

Are you insinuating that it goes wrong with a bang ?!?
If so pretty bad taste

I’m a bit torn here – while I try my best not to wish harm on anyone I’d not be heartbroken if this exercise in vainglorious profligacy had an outcome that discouraged others.

Since I have met Dave MacKay the Virgin Galactic chief test pilot on a number of occasions when he was a Shuttleworth Collection pilot and I was a volunteer there, I am hoping very much that this is a success. A really decent and approachable man.
Whilst there he flew the 1909 Bleriot amongst other veteran aircraft, quite a difference to his current day job

I worked with a bloke who is a tool of the highest order. Never met a bigger egotist. Of course he made millions in shares and has booked himself onto one of these flights. I imagine the whole plane to be full of **** just like him every trip. I wish the crew could eject on his flight and let the thing catch up with Musk’s car

Would their technology let them take off from Cornwall and land a couple of hours later in Australia?

Him and Bez can stay up there.

Bez is up there? Thought he’d blown all his cash on hard drugs and tambourines?

It would be similarly ostentatious but markedly less harmful to set fire to a huge heap of 20 pound notes.

They could even do it in front of some homeless people.

I’m going to watch the launch. I’ll also watch the Blue origin launch in a few weeks time.
Might watch some TdF as well.

I am pretty sure that hot air balloons, trains, cars and aircraft were the sole playthings of the rich and privileged when they first were commercially available for recreational purposes.

Good luck to them. Hoping the flight is a success, and leads to better opportunities for space flight, which will hopefully have an impact of good for all.

Would their technology let them take off from Cornwall and land a couple of hours later in Australia?

No, it’s going straight up and straight back down.

Bez is up there?

Bez is going up on his own penis rocket later this month.

Not really space is it?

No.

NASA define space as above 80Km, so using this, if it goes as high as planned, it is space. It’s not into orbit, which is, I think, a better definition.

Lol, kind of takes the shine off when you have to explain that it’s technically space, but not the kind everyone thinks of.

The live stream is just, blah……

RB turns up on a trek road bike….. With flat pedals….

Lol, kind of takes the shine off when you have to explain that it’s technically space, but not the kind everyone thinks of.

Just spent 30mins explaining to the wife that it’s technically space….

Will they be weightless? That’s my idea of space.

Will they be weightless?

Yes

They didn’t stay in space for very long

I thought they were going to stay up a bit longer as well.

Yep – entirely underwhelming

The Telegraph, drolly, underwhelmingly:

Sir Richard Branson made astronautical history on Sunday afternoon by becoming the first billionaire in space.

How would you define space? there is little or no atmosphere up there bt still well and truly under the influence of gravity…its a parabolic flight so weightlessness is just due to the trajectory of the craft …but then so are all the satellites that orbit the earth so are they really in space???. Impressive that its a commercial venture and space tourism is a fantastic thing. My dad was not alone amongst many of his generation that back in 1969 after watching the first moon landing as a wee lad he was convinced he would be holidaying in space some day in his lifetime…well looks like it might just be possible if he was willing to raid his pension pot for a seat!

But the point about billionaires…well most of mankinds advances have really been pushed by billionaires. Those who commissioned sailors to go out into the unknown to find new worlds and trading routes, those who pioneered flight and speed etc. that has ulimtately benefitted all mankind as there is a trickle down effect when boundaries are pushed. With space its been the preserve of nation states, but a combination of nation states not having the spare cash to splash on expensive space programmes and the extraordinary rise in the number of millionaires and billionaires in the world over the last 30 years or so, means the batton has passed back to them. So it seems their elaborate hobby’s and willy waving will once again ultimately benefit mankind once again.

Its a tiny step for sure and they’ve been running flights like this for years now so nothing new, but all these things start with tiny steps.

Will they be weightless? That’s my idea of space.

You can be weightless at ground level – its just a question of being in ballistic flight which is all this was – didn’t even get out of the atmosphere properly did he?

Gravity also extends to infinity – thats what stops the moon just floating off

How would you define space?

100km altitude if you’re not American, 80km altitude if you are (roughly):

“The Kármán line is an attempt to define a boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space”
“ The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), an international standard-setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics, defines the Kármán line as the altitude of 100 kilometres (54 nautical miles; 62 miles; 330,000 feet) above Earth’s mean sea level. Not all organizations recognize this definition. NASA, the US Space Force, US Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration define the boundary as 50 miles (80 km) above sea level.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_line

So, not space.

It is pretty high for sure but for my money I’d probably spend it on the “vomit comet” to get a decent amount of zero gravity and be free to float round the cabin. So apart from the view (which I think is pretty amazing from a commercial airliner anyway) and the bragging rights it’s not got massive appeal, but a stint on the ISS would be something!

It was not up for long enough was it. I’m sure anyone willing to spend the cash on it will have a lovely time, well I don’t suppose you will come down and just say Meh, it was alright.

I thought they were going to stay up a bit longer as well.

Couple of hundred years should be about right….

well I don’t suppose you will come down and just say Meh, it was alright.

You might not say it, but you might think it

I am pretty under-enthused by all this. It’s a rich person’s jolly. It’s nothing that wasn’t done 60 years ago really.

The potential for manned mission to Mars is exciting – but even that is massively technically challenging, especially if it’s to be anything other than a one way trip.

Manned missions much beyond that are not going to happen without a massive leap in technology. This just seems extremely unlikely given energy required to shift the mass of equipment required with any technology we have available or is in the the foreseeable future

I am pretty under-enthused by all this.

Likewise, in terms of thrill seeking it doesn’t look a patch on sky diving…..

Wake me up when he docks with the ISS.

A sub orbital flight is an awful lot easier in terms of the amount of energy needed.

To go into orbit you don’t just need to get up high – stable low earth orbits start about 200km up – you need to go really fast. 7km/s fast!

Spaceship Two manages just over 1km a second.

Okay its not a Pan-Am flight to the Moon but its still pretty impressive. Launching a rocket powered civilian spaceplane from a custom designed mothership, hitting Mach 3.5 and zoom climbing to just below the Karman line.

Don’t get me wrong Branson is a self-aggrandising prick but its still a neat bit of engineering.

Was his little speech meant to be his Neil Armstrong moment? Because he just came across as a big a xxxx as usual..

What happened to Branson? I know people that know him personally and his early businesses were very ethical and he treated employees very well turning over chunks of the businesses to them for free and so on

somewhere along the line he turned from ethical hippy businessman to an utter capitalist shit

Hardly ethical in early business, he was involved in an export tax dodge and had to be bailed out by his parents. He was lucky not to end up in court.