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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 29 2020, @10:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the getting-away-from-it-all dept.

Virgin Galactic shows off passenger spaceship cabin interior:

Highly detailed amenities to enhance the customer flight experience were shown in an online event revealing the cabin of the company's rocket plane, a type called SpaceShipTwo, which is undergoing testing in preparation for commercial service.

There are a dozen windows for viewing, seats that will be customized for each flight's six passengers and capable of adjusting for G forces, and, naturally, mood lighting.

Yet designer Jeremy Brown said the passengers' most lasting impression may come from a large mirror at the rear of the cabin.

"We think that there's a real memory burn that customers are going to have when they see that analog reflection of themselves in the back of the cabin, seeing themselves floating freely in space ... that very personal interaction that they'll have with the experience," he said.

[...] The passengers, clad in space suits designed by the Under Armour company, will be able to leave their seats and float about the cabin, using handholds tested by chief astronaut trainer Beth Moses during Virgin Galactic's second flight into space last year.

The test was aimed at helping finalize the design and at learning how to train passenger astronauts for what they will experience as they become weightless and reach the top of the flight profile, known as its apogee, before the descent begins.

Moses said she tested different ways of getting in and out of the seats, moved around the cabin and waved at the mirror, concluding that it was not disorienting.

"I also purposely went to a point in the cabin to most dramatically try to enjoy apogee and a view of Earth from the stillness of space," she said.

[...] The company has yet to set a date for flights with paying passengers.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday July 29 2020, @11:10AM (2 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday July 29 2020, @11:10AM (#1028066) Journal

    This is the headline I saw for this news yesterday:

    Virgin Galactic Tumbles On Open Market Despite Key Cabin Reveal [wccftech.com]

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  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday July 29 2020, @11:43PM (1 child)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday July 29 2020, @11:43PM (#1028366)

    I was picturing something like: Virgin Galactic still hasn't got a vehicle to orbit, despite being "almost ready" since 2004"

    I can't help wondering what they're really up to. It just shouldn't take this long, so is it some sort of tax dodge or something?

    • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday July 31 2020, @12:29PM

      by isostatic (365) on Friday July 31 2020, @12:29PM (#1029241) Journal

      They aren't even trying for orbit - it's for suborbit 100km, which Scaled Composites did in 2004, and then Virgin Galactic formed out of that. They had a couple of setbacks, notably the Enterprise crash, but they still haven't managed the same feat as the 2004 flights.