![]() ![]() In a thread on X (formerly Twitter), Alessio Veneziano, a biological anthropologist and co-organizer of the AHEAD conference (Advances in Human Evolution, Adaptation and Diversity), succinctly identified four main issues that have been discussed: 1) the lack of scientific justification for the flight 2) ethical issues surrounding respect for human ancestral remains 3) Berger's access to the fossils, which few other researchers share and 4) the misrepresentation of the practice of palaeoanthropology. (Image credit: Stefan Heunis / Stringer / Getty Images) "There's nothing at the moment holding us up in our tracks," heconcluded.The remains of Homo naledi, whose thumb bone was sent to the edge of space on Sept. That shakeout test period would stretch out over 9 to 10 months,Whitehorn said. Nodetails as yet regarding the interior and exterior of the vehicle, but progressis being made, he said.Ītleast 50 to perhaps as many as 100 test flights of the new spaceship design maybe undertaken at the Mojave, Californiaspaceport. Whitehorn said that the new space tourist passengervehicle is under design, with a mockup to be unveiled at a future date. We've made it very clear.that weare not going to be hidebound to a particular timetable." ![]() And we would like to be operating commercially by the end of 2008,"Whitehorn said. "Wewould like to be in development and in experimental test flying by the end of2007. Furthermore, the company will build spaceships - not only for VirginGalactic and its initial order of five spaceships and two carrier craft - butfor other customers as well, Whitehorn added. TheSpaceship Company will own the intellectual property of the new spaceshipdesign. "Wehave decided that since this is such a new industry - and so early in thisinvestment curve - that we are actually going to act as the manufacturer anddeveloper of the ships alongside Rutan, Whitehorn told in a phone interview. Whitehornsaid that Virgin Galactic has been negotiating with Rutan over the last severalmonths to chart out how best to move forward and create a passenger-carryingrocket ship. "These are the kindsof people who are going to enable us to bring the cost of space travel down,"he stated. Todate, Branson said, about a 100 pioneers have been willing to pay $200,000 tobe the first people to go into space via Virgin Galactic. ![]() "We expect todouble, triple, quadruple the number of astronauts in the next few years thathave currently experienced space," he said. ![]() The principal aim is toreinvest any money we make into space exploration," Branson said. "Ourprincipal aim behind this is not to make money. "Our aim is to bringthe price down," he said. "We still haven't decided on whichstate the base will be," Branson said, adding that the space tourist-carryingvehicles could rocket spaceward from the Mojave, Californiadesert, Las Vegas, New Mexico, or possibly Florida.Ītpresent, seats onboard Virgin Galactic spaceships are price tagged at $200,000each.īutBranson hopes that this seat price will drop over time. Once the fleet ofsuborbital craft is built, a base from which to operate the spaceships is to beset up within the United States. "We hope that we can get those spacecraft built roughly two and ahalf to three years from now," he said. "We're taking thetechnology of SpaceShipOne and developing it into a usable commercial vehicleto give thousands of people the chance to experience the majesty of space," saidWill Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic-the space tourism venture that isa subsidiary of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group.īranson told the Oshkosh crowd that thecommercial spaceship can carry 7 paying passengers, along with a two-personflight crew. SpaceShipOnesuccessfully snagged the $10 million Ansari X Prize last year by stagingback-to-back flights of the piloted craft to the edge of space.īothof the new vehicles, however, are to be twice the size of the earlier designs. The SS2/WK2 system will adopt thereentry concept and hybrid rocket motor design work hammered out forSpaceShipOne, licensing that technology from Paul Allen's Mojave AerospaceCompany. The yearly event spotlights homebuiltaircraft, antiques, classics, warbirds, ultralights, rotorcraft-as well as theemerging commercial spaceflight business.īothrocket ship and the carrier aircraft will draw from Rutan's work onSpaceShipOne and the White Knight mothership. Theannouncement was made today at the Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA)AirVenture gathering being held July 25-31 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. ![]()
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