Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceline is still in the works. Still. As some potential passengers jump ship. The latest to give up his ticket is venture capitalist Alan Walton. If you have an extra $200,000, now's your chance to snatch it up.
It seems that even the 1%ers (shameless Occupy Wall Street reference) are being careful about how they spend their dollars these days, based on a report at physorg.com. Walton was among the first folks to sign up for this spaceflight, which involves being sent on a suborbital trip, 60-some miles high, for a feeling of weightlessness (and a potential awesome new Facebook profile photo).
It's hard not to blame the ship-jumper. He's been waiting for seven years, is 75 years, and is concerned about project delays. But all good things, and innovations, take time, right? Also, he got a full refund. That's good customer service.
It was back in 2004 that SpaceShipOne became the first privately paid for, manned ship to make it into space. The first commercial passenger flight was forecast to occur in 2007.
So much for that schedule, and those interested in what you might call the ultimate travel experience. Earlier this year, Virgin Galactic showed off SpaceShipTwo during its first feathered flight.
This month, Virgin Galactic inked a $4.5 million contract with NASA for up to three charter flights on SpaceShipTwo, for engineers, technologists, and scientific researchers to conduct experiments in space.
So there are still those out there who are committed to, and interested in, non-NASA, non-Russian commercial spaceflights.
According to the Virgin Galactic website, bookings are still being taken, for more than 400 astronauts who will make the trip (some day). Maybe if they threw in some sky miles?
According to the physorg.com article, other companies in the space race include XCOR Aerospace, Armadillo Aerospace and Blue Origin, the last of which is headed by Amazon rocket man Jeff Bezos.
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