Photo: Virgin Galactic
We all know advancements in space exploration are made at a very slow pace, but one doesn't really get a sense of that until you learn how long some people have been waiting to get up there on board one of these new "tourist" spaceships.
Of the two major players that have been promising the start of commercial space operations on a regular basis, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, only the former seems to have truly begun doing so.
Richard Branson's company begun regular flights to the edge of space, with paying customers on board, almost four months ago, and it seems it'll keep on going with "a monthly cadence of spaceflights." When you look at it that way it seems impressive and all, but once you flip the coin you immediately see what a struggle this has been.
Virgin Galactic was officially founded in 2004, which is one year short of a full two decades. During this time, it had its ups and downs, and was not spared of tragedy, but it does seem all the pieces have now fallen into place.
So confident were some people in Branson's vision of making a lot of money from this that soon after the company's founding, in 2005, they even purchased tickets right there and then. And some of them are only now, 19 years later, getting the promised flight.
Virgin announced earlier this week that the flight window for its third commercial trip, aptly called Galactic 03, opens on September 8. Three people will be on board, all three members of the so-called Founder group of astronauts, meaning the ones who believed Branson's promises even before they were sure he could deliver.
The names of these three people were not disclosed - as per habit, Virgin will likely do that closer to the mission's actual launch. We do know that of the about 800 people who have already paid for a trip to space on the VSS Unity, they did get off easy.
You see, a ticket onboard the spacecraft, complete with the entire Virgin experience, costs $450,000 today. Back in 2005 however, the price was set at "just" $250,000.
You could say the huge waiting time kind of made up for the difference though, but when you really look at how things stand, the ones buying tickets today are in for the long haul as well.
Virgin says there are some 800 astronauts-in-waiting on its list. Assuming only three of them go up during a flight and assuming Virgin will not expand its spacecraft fleet and keep launches at one per month, it will take 266 missions to run through the entire list.
In simpler phrasing, the unluckiest Virgin Galactic astronaut will have to wait another 22 years before setting foot on a Virgin spacecraft.
Richard Branson's company begun regular flights to the edge of space, with paying customers on board, almost four months ago, and it seems it'll keep on going with "a monthly cadence of spaceflights." When you look at it that way it seems impressive and all, but once you flip the coin you immediately see what a struggle this has been.
Virgin Galactic was officially founded in 2004, which is one year short of a full two decades. During this time, it had its ups and downs, and was not spared of tragedy, but it does seem all the pieces have now fallen into place.
So confident were some people in Branson's vision of making a lot of money from this that soon after the company's founding, in 2005, they even purchased tickets right there and then. And some of them are only now, 19 years later, getting the promised flight.
Virgin announced earlier this week that the flight window for its third commercial trip, aptly called Galactic 03, opens on September 8. Three people will be on board, all three members of the so-called Founder group of astronauts, meaning the ones who believed Branson's promises even before they were sure he could deliver.
The names of these three people were not disclosed - as per habit, Virgin will likely do that closer to the mission's actual launch. We do know that of the about 800 people who have already paid for a trip to space on the VSS Unity, they did get off easy.
You see, a ticket onboard the spacecraft, complete with the entire Virgin experience, costs $450,000 today. Back in 2005 however, the price was set at "just" $250,000.
You could say the huge waiting time kind of made up for the difference though, but when you really look at how things stand, the ones buying tickets today are in for the long haul as well.
Virgin says there are some 800 astronauts-in-waiting on its list. Assuming only three of them go up during a flight and assuming Virgin will not expand its spacecraft fleet and keep launches at one per month, it will take 266 missions to run through the entire list.
In simpler phrasing, the unluckiest Virgin Galactic astronaut will have to wait another 22 years before setting foot on a Virgin spacecraft.
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