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posted by Fnord666 on Monday November 18 2019, @05:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the feather-in-their-cap dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1337

Virgin Galactic begins 'Astronaut Readiness Program' for first paying customers – TechCrunch

Virgin Galactic has begun its “Astronaut Readiness Program” this week, which is being run out of Under Armour Global HQ to start. Under Armour is Virgin Galactic’s partner on its official astronaut uniforms, which its first paying space tourists will don on the company’s initial trips beyond Earth.

The Astronaut Readiness Program is a preparatory course that all of Virgin Galactic’s passengers undertake before they can get their trip aboard the company’s VSS Unity sub-orbital spaceplane. It involves guidance and instruction provided by Virgin Galactic team members, including its Chief Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses and Chief Pilot Dave Mackay. Both Mackay and Moses were on Virgin’s February demonstration flight to space, and so can provide not only guidance based on their considerable expertise, but also share insights from actually having flown aboard the same vessel that will take the company’s paying passengers up. Moses will advise on how to get around on board the spacecraft, too.

[...] To date, Virgin Galactic has 600 customers signed up to fly aboard its SpaceShipTwo spacecraft, which launches from a customized cargo jet aircraft to reach sub-orbital space and provides customers with a 90-minute flight, for $250,000 per ticket. It’s looking to launch its first flights for paying customers in the first half of next year.


Original Submission

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Richard Branson to Sell 22% Stake in Virgin Galactic 11 comments

Branson to sell part of Virgin Galactic stake

Richard Branson, the founder and largest shareholder of suborbital spaceflight company Virgin Galactic, will sell more than a fifth of Virgin Group's majority stake in the company to raise funds to aid its other companies affected by the pandemic.

In a statement May 11, the company announced that Vieco 10, the Virgin Group holding company that owns the majority of Virgin Galactic, planned to sell up to 25 million shares, accounting for about 22% of its overall stake in the company. That sale would generate $485 million for Virgin at the price of $19.40 per share at the close of trading May 11.

Virgin Group said the sale of stock, the company said in a statement and in its S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), was "to support its portfolio of global leisure, holiday and travel businesses that have been affected by the unprecedented impact of COVID-19."

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Virgin Galactic Begins 'Astronaut Readiness Program' for First Paying Customers
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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @08:20AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @08:20AM (#921450)

    Given that astro-nots have their videos recorder here on the planet, under water in large swimming pools, what sci-fi techniques will they use to convince the paying 'astro-nots' that they are in Earth's orbit and not inside some large swimming pool?

    Or will the paying passengers be put to sleep using drugs and an artificial reality beamed to their heads convincing them that the space flight is real while in fact they are lying on hospital beds?

    And will the paying passengers be exposed to x-rays and other harmful radiations just to prove to them that they flew?

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @08:40AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @08:40AM (#921453)

      Pretty sure you're just being silly but in the one in a million chance you half think you're serious, I'd like you to consider something.

      You just implied that rewriting somebody's brain, a field we know nothing about on any level of refinement, is easier than launching some meatsacks on top of a missile. I love a good conspiracy as much as the next man, but at the basis of any good conspiracy is an assumption of motivation, and viability in the conspiracy. Here the motivation is unclear at best, requires a world-wide degree of collusion (otherwise radars worldwide would notice nothing going up), somehow has to explain away the fact you can go see the rocket launches in person, and finally also has to assume some sort of super distant future brain writing sci-fi tech is actually present-day tech.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @06:00PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @06:00PM (#921606)

        "rewriting somebody's brain, a field we know nothing about on any level of refinement"

        That is what they have been telling you. They are not to be trusted. Why would they tell you about rewriting memories when that can be a very powerful weapon (as long as it stays secret)?

        At one time today's technology was considered science fiction. Today you may consider brain memory writing science fiction, but do you trust them to tell you everything there is to know?

        By the way, the rockets they send up contain nothing living. It is advanced V-2's.

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday November 18 2019, @08:44AM (1 child)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday November 18 2019, @08:44AM (#921455) Homepage
    So, in what body's gravity well will they be? This *suborbital* craft.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @11:48AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @11:48AM (#921471)

      In the "yo mam..."
      Naaah, yo're fat enough, Phil (large grin)

  • (Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Monday November 18 2019, @04:47PM (1 child)

    by jmichaelhudsondotnet (8122) on Monday November 18 2019, @04:47PM (#921569) Journal

    Ban the rich from space!

    Or, the cost for a trip to orbit is a trust fund that houses 100 homeless people for life.

    Or, it could be like when you win the nobel prize or get a pulitzer, it is a reward for doing some actual helpful shit and not being a parasitic slug on a yacht.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @01:18AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @01:18AM (#921790)

      Ban rich people. Starting January 2021.

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