British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has the unveiled the luxurious interiors concept of his Virgin Galactic Spaceship that is designed specifically for commercial space tourism. Future passengers aboard SpaceShipTwo can look forward to cushioned reclining seats and lots of windows during suborbital flights. The plush interiors pictures were revealed at Wired Magazine’s NextFest forum that is taking place in NYC this week. The actual plane will be revealed within 12 months hence and the test flights will commence just after that.
The new spacecraft is designed to seat eight people incuding six passengers and two pilots. The Virgin Galactic passengers will buy a $2,00,000 ticket for a 2.5-hour flight aboard SpaceShipTwo. The spaceship will launch from an altitude of about 60,000 feet (18,288 meters), while buckled safely in seats that recline flat after reaching suborbital space and will reach a maximum altitude of at least 68 miles. The spacesuit designs are not yet final but they will likely be equipped with personal data and image recorders to add to SpaceShipTwo’s in-cabin cameras. The future operational spaceflights will begin in 2009.
And now, if besides the luxury interiors, if you are interested in browsing the fortunate six passengers list, then we can tell you 4 names out of the 6, which are supposed to be the Hollywood’s best known couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Reember, back in early January 2006, we told you about the couple convincing Richard Branson to be aboard his Virgin Galactic Spaceship which will lift off in 2010. Apparently, the couple has has already paid £115,000 each to ensure they have a seat on the jet. The couple will be accompanied by the superstar Robbie Williams and William Shatner.
via BoingBoing
Update: Check-out more information at PopSci and a video here.
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