When Virgin Galactic kills some people ( and it will), its going to take the sheen off that business model. Its an extremely expensive luxury. So was Concorde, and one accident was all it took to put the nail in the coffin of supersonic commercial travel.
Quote from: Gregori on 07/03/2011 07:47 pmWhen Virgin Galactic kills some people ( and it will), its going to take the sheen off that business model. Its an extremely expensive luxury. So was Concorde, and one accident was all it took to put the nail in the coffin of supersonic commercial travel.(A) I agree, loss of life is a question of when, not if, and the fledgling industry's ability to overcome that will be a key test. (B) The accident is often blamed on Concorde's demise, but is that really accurate? The Concorde fleet was after all modified and returned to service for several years. The rising fuel costs and economic downturn were more of a factor, no?
I hope to be an old geezer geologist on Mars in about 40 years.
I'd love a trans-lunar fly-around. Seeing Earthrise is definitely on my list of the ultimate personal experiences. That (and $150M for the ride) aside, even a couple of weeks on Bigelow's Alpha would be nice.
I really don't want to die....Going to space is not that important if it means 2% chance of death. I think I am going to wait until its made relatively safe. I might like to experience zero G on the "vomit comet". At $4900, its 50 times cheaper than VG.When Virgin Galactic kills some people ( and it will), its going to take the sheen off that business model. Its an extremely expensive luxury. So was Concorde, and one accident was all it took to put the nail in the coffin of supersonic commercial travel.