It is said that history repeats itself. If the history of commercial air travel is any indication, vacations in space will soon be as regular as international flights. After Charles Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis nonstop from New York City to Paris in 1927, the commercial air travel industry boomed. His 33.5 hour flight transformed skeptics into believers, proving that long distance flights were possible. The feat earned him the $25,000 Orteig Prize, offered to the first person to fly the route. Seventy-seven years later in October of 2004, SpaceShipOne (developed by Burt Rutan’s company, Scaled Composites) was the first non-government reusable manned spacecraft to travel repeatedly into space (twice within two weeks), winning the Ansari X-Prize of $10 million and pioneering commercial space travel. Will history repeat itself?
Today, SpaceShipOne hangs in the Smithsonian next to Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis - two aircraft that paved the way for commercial travel.
Photo Credit: Peter PenegorBillionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson jumped at the opportunity to lead the commercial space travel industry. A division of Branson’s Virgin Group—which includes Virgin Mobile, Virgin Records, three Virgin airlines and now Virgin Galactic— partnered with Scaled Composites to build a fleet of five SpaceShipTwos, the first of which will be named VSS Enterprise (yes, the name deliberately honors Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise).
Seven thousand people worldwide have already indicated their willingness (and wealth) to buy a ticket for a 2.5 hour suborbital spaceflight that promises three to six minutes of weightlessness and a stunning view of Earth. Among those pre-booked for the adventure are Star Trek’s William Shatner, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and electrician Alan Watts, a London man who exchanged 2 million frequent flyer miles earned on Virgin Atlantic airlines for the roughly 200 mile round trip to space. Branson himself plans on taking the first flight, slated for 2009, along with a few members of his family.
This thrill ride isn’t cheap. If you’re not a member of Branson’s immediate family or a seasoned traveler with 2 million frequent flyer miles, the only way to get a seat is to fork over $200,000, which amounts to about $1,300 per minute off the ground. Branson’s ultimate goal is to price the tickets more affordably once he recoups most of the venture’s initial cost.
Millions of dollars are going into the development of SpaceShipTwo, which will be designed to carry a maximum of nine passengers 84 to 87 miles above the earth’s surface—a few miles past the border of what’s considered “space.” Although SpaceShipTwo is designed to be sub-orbital (meaning it comes straight back down without orbiting the earth), an orbiting commercial spacecraft may not be too far off.
“To go into orbit you just have to go faster— give it more of a boost,” Gil Emmert, UWMadison professor of engineering physics, says. Emmert worked on rocket engines and fuel cells for the Apollo missions. There are, however, additional challenges involved in designing an orbital vehicle. According to Daniel Kammer, a UW-Madison professor of engineering mechanics and astronautics, the higher speed required for orbit necessitates a heat shield—a component prone to failure. Also, orbital spacecrafts must have the means to sustain human life in space: including equipment to provide oxygen, food, water and protection from radiation.
Reaching the outer limits of Earth’s atmosphere requires a lot of power and a lot of rocket fuel as it is, but SpaceShipOne (and SpaceShipTwo) require less fuel by launching from mid-air. Instead of launching vertically from the ground, like NASA’s space shuttle, a separate aircraft carries Space- ShipOne to an altitude of about 46,000 feet and then drops it. During its freefall, SpaceShipOne’s relatively small rockets kick in and push it into space. This method requires less fuel because drag decreases at higher altitudes as the atmosphere thins. Another advantage is that if the rockets fail, the spacecraft can proceed with a normal landing.
“You reduce the drag, and that’s probably the biggest benefit of [an air launch],” Emmert says.
Branson doesn’t plan on stopping at suborbital spaceflights. He tells the press that he hopes to one day offer orbital spaceflights (aboard a SpaceShipThree), trips to the moon and to build a hotel in space. Maybe his head is in the clouds, or in space for that matter, but seemingly impossible things have happened before. Eighty years ago, intercontinental air flights were just a dream reserved for daredevil pilots.
“You can never say, ’They’ll never do this, and they’ll never do that,’ because things have a way of evolving. People find ways to do it. Especially if there’s money to be made, they’ll find a way,” Kammer says. When asked whether he’d accept a free ticket on SpaceShipTwo, Kammer replied, “I’d love to go into space…Yeah, I’d go in a second.”
Today, SpaceShipOne hangs in the Smithsonian next to Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis—two aircraft that paved the way for commercial travel. If Lindbergh’s legacy is any indication, it won’t be long before space becomes a regular vacation destination.