TO BE taken seriously, the fledgling space tourism industry needed a serious backer. This week, it got one. Richard Branson announced the creation of Virgin Galactic, a company that could start offering commercial space flights as early as 2007.
Branson told a news conference on 27 September that he had 鈥渟igned a historical deal to license SpaceShipOne鈥檚 technology鈥�. SpaceShipOne, a craft built by the US company Scaled Composites, made its first successful flight to the edge of space on 21 June. As New 杏吧原创 went to press, it was being readied to fly again on 29 September, for the first of two flights less than two weeks apart needed to claim the $10 million Ansari X prize.
Whether or not SpaceShipOne succeeds, Virgin鈥檚 announcement means that investment in space tourism will take off, says Geoff Sheerin, who leads the Canadian Arrow, another contender for the X prize. 鈥淚t is great news for the rest of the people who are trying to make this an industry,鈥� he adds. To begin with it will be an industry catering to the rich. Flights will start at a mere 拢115,000.
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