The launch of the satellite Sputnik in 1957 ignited a race between the world’s two great rival powers. The United States and the former Soviet Union, USSR each poured vast amounts of resources into the research and development of technologies for the exploration of outer space. Sputnik and the impressive [...]
Virgin Galactic Once a week at dawn, C.J. Sturckow guns a blue Extra 330SC stunt plane into the pink sky above the Mojave Desert. At 14,000 feet, the 5-foot-9 former NASA astronaut starts doing his "card" – a checklist of rolls and spins meant to simulate spaceflight's G-forces. White-knuckling the [...]
It's official: Virgin Galactic's commercial spaceflight revolution will be televised. Virgin Galactic's owner, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, has inked a deal with NBC ensuring that the network will air live coverage of the inaugural flight of the company's private SpaceShipTwo rocket ship, as well as other special programs in [...]
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, a six-passenger, two-pilot suborbital spacecraft, is expected to make its third powered test flight within a month, said the company’s chief executive George Whitesides. So far, about 650 customers have put down deposits or paid in full for rides aboard SpaceShipTwo, which now cost $250,000. SpaceShipTwo’s last [...]
