Want to travel to Space with Virgin Galactic – win a seat

ppalme — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:23:20 +0000

Guinness, the Beer company, are also holding a competition and 1 lucky winner + one friend get tickets on Virgin Galactic; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5704446/Guinness-offers-drinkers-chance-to-win-space-flight.html

The draw is open until 24th September 2009, so there will be no names until then! Details at www.guinness.com

Spaceship Industry

ppalme — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:05:14 +0000

What are the challenges of the upcoming spacehsip industry ? What are the policies that will govern this new industy ? What are strategies of the players in this field ? What will be the impact on different industries (chemcial industry, electronic industy, Air transport industry, etc.) ?
spaceship group on Linkedin
Please find below a collection of interesting sources:

1) Sustainable Space Exploration and Space Development – A Unified Strategic Vision by

Buzz Aldrin, Ph.D.
Apollo 11 Astronaut
Sr. Fellow, Aerospace Technology Working Group

Feng Hsu, Ph.D.
Sr. Fellow, Aerospace Technology Working Group

Ken Cox, Ph.D.
Founder & Director
Aerospace Technology Working Group

2) “Space Access ’09, our upcoming annual conference on the technology, politics, and business of radically cheaper access to space, featuring a cross-section of leading players in the field, will once again be the place to hear the latest on the fast-moving entrepreneurial new-space industry.”

3) Spacehobs.com Internet’s largest resource for space, aerospace and defense talent. With over 13,000 resumes and 450 companies online,

4) International Space Development Conference, May 28-31 in Orlando

Who will travel on spaceship two with Virgin Galactic into suborbital space ?

ppalme — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:22:51 +0000

Latest Update: August,3rd 2011

“About 410 people, majority from the United States, have committed about $200,000 each to go into outer space. Out of this, 6 are Indians, while around 200 are from US, and rest from UK and Europe. Santosh Kulangara, MD of Labour India Group, is the first Indian to get a ticket, rest are NRIs. We have had about 85,000 people who have registered on our website saying that one day they would love to go to the space.” Reference: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/virgin-galactic-is-offering-low-cost-space-flights/articleshow/7472468.cms

Michael Schumacher
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/564040-schumacher-latest-to-sign-up-for-galactic-trip

The list is a secret. Yet a few names are known. This is the most comprehensive list on the internet and I hope I will be able to complete it over the next couple of months. If you come accross any passengers names please send email to petepalme@gmail.com or leave it in the comment section.
Come and join the spaceship group on Linkedin:

50 – 100 Testflights
Testpilots:
Brian Binnie (Scotland) Profile on Linkedin
David Mackay (Scotland) – will be the first captain on the first official flight
Pilots:
Niki Lauda (Austria)
Article on Linkedin

16 Flights to carry all 100 Founders in a period of 8 months. This means
4 of the founders act as copilots otherwise a minimum of 17 flights would carry all 100 Founders.
1st official Flight:
1) The first passengers: Sir Richard Branson, Sam Branson (son) Holly Branson (daughter) and parents (UK)
Owner of Virgin and Virgin Galactic
Date of flight: early 2013
No Linkedin Profile, Article in Wikipedia
Pilot of the flight: Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger
Place of start: Majave-Dessert in California

Speculation: Will Anousheh Ansari be on the first flight or James Lovelock. This question is now answered, it is:

1) Ken Baxter (USA)
Real Estate Marketing Executive
Date of flight: 2012
Profile on Linkedin

2) -100) Passengers who deposited the full amount of 200 000 USD are called Virgin Galactic Founders.

Second official flight togther with Sir Richard Branson:
2) Victoria Principal in USA.
Actress
Date of flight: 2012
Article on Wikipedia

3) Brian Singer in USA.
Hollywood Director
Date of flight: 2012

4) Princess Beatrice of York (UK)
Date of flight: 2012
Article on Wikipedia

5) Ibrahim Sharaf (United Arab Emirates)
Sharaf Group President
Date of flight: 2012

6) Anousheh Ansari (USA) Origin: Iran
Electrical Engineer
Date of flight: 2012
Article on Wikipedia Profile on Linkedin
Website

Next shuttles: ??

??) Wiliam Shatner (USA)
Actor
Date of flight: 2012
Article on Wikipedia

??) Sigourney Weaver
Actress
Date of flight: 2012
Article on Wikipedia

??) Loretta Hildago Whitesides (USA)
Director of US Operations, Space Generation Advisory Council
Date of flight: ??
Profile on Linkedin
??) George Whitesides (USA)
Executive Director at National Space Society
Date of flight: ??
Profile on Linkedin

??) Matthew D. Upchurch (USA)
Virtuoso CEO
Date of flight: A lottery system will determine Upchurch’s official launch date Travel Agency: Virtuoso
Profile on Linkedin

??) Alan Walton (USA)
Date of flight: 2012

??) Matthew Pritzker (USA)
Owner of Venture Capital firm
Date of flight: ??

??) Lina Borozdina-Birch (USA)
Chemist
Date of flight: ??

??) Dr Alan Finkel (Australia)
Chairman of Luna Media Pty Ltd
COSMOS Science Magazine Co-founder
Date of flight: 2012
??) Wilson da Silva (Australia)
COSMOS Sciene Magazine Editor
Date of flight: 2012

??) Glenys Ambe (Australia)
Fashion Retailer
Date of flight: ??

??) Jackie Maw (New Zealand)
Realestate Agent
Date of flight: 2009/2010 ??) Igor Kutsenko (Russia)
Owner Advertising Agency
Date of flight: ??

??) Sergei Tyaglov (Russia)
Owner Advertising Agency
Date of flight: ??

??) ?? (China – Zhejiang province)
Date of flight: 2012

??) ?? (China)
Date of flight: 2012

??) Craig Burkinshaw (UK)
Audley Travel Boss
Date of flight: ??
Profile on Linkedin

??) Alan Watts (UK)
Managing director GE
First to trade in his 2 000 000 Frequent Virgin Flyer miles
Date of flight: 2012
Profile on Linkedin

??) Trevor Beattie (UK)
Advertising
Date of flight: 2012

??)Bill Cullen (Ireland)
Country – Ireland
Irish businessman and philanthropist. He owned the Renault Ireland franchise until it was taken under more direct control by Renault in 2007. Reality TV Show host.

Wiki – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cullen_(businessman)

Newspaper article about Bill cullen and Virgin Galactic; http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/rocket-man-1318322.html

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2010/10/12/bill-cullen-is-booked-on-this/

?? ) Rubens Barrichello (Brazil)
Formula 1 Pilot
Article on Wikipedia

??) Xavier Gabriel (Spain)
Lottery Vendor
Date of flight: 2012

??) Sonja Rohde (Germany)
Date of flight: 2012

??) Peter Ulrich von May (Switzerland)
Asset Manager
Date of flight: 2012
Travel Agency: ??
Interview

??) Noriaki Inami (Japan)
System Engineer
Date of flight: 2012

??) ?? (Japan)
Date of flight: 2012

??) Santosh Kulangara (India)
MD of Labour India Group
Date of flight: 2013?

?/) Namira Salim (Pakistan)
Artist and Humanitarian
Date of flight: 2012
Interview

2 free tickets for:

??) Stephen Hawking (UK)
Astrophysicist
Date of flight: ??
Article on Wikipedia

??) James Lovelock (UK)
Scientist
Date of flight: 2012
Article on Wikipedia

Free ticket winner:
??) Doug Ramsburg (USA)
Date of flight: ??

1 ticket in exchange for work

??) Philippe Stark
Designer
Date of flight: ??
Article on Wikipedia

A video on myspace showing some of the founders after the training at NASTAR.
One of the founders in the centrifuge training.
Some more faces of the founder astronauts.
If you know the name please send to petepalme@gmail.com.

Spaceship Group on Linkedin:

Link to spaceship group:
(#1 Space industry & space travel group). We welcome space industry experts, engineers, travelers, astronauts, pilots, recruiter,investors, future talents i.e Alcatel, EADS, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop, NASA, Honeywell, SAAB, ESA, DLR, Virgin Galactic, XCOR, ATK, United Launch Alliance, SpaceX..

Status February 6, 2009:
A few customers have asked for their deposits back, including one person who lost all his money in the Bernard Madoff scandal. “He could say to us that actually we were one of only investments he’d made that hadn’t gone bad” because he was able to recover his $200,000, Whitehorn said.
Reference: http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1304/1

To ensure they can handle the 3 g on the way up, and up to 6 g on the way down, Virgin is testing its would-be space tourists’ resilience in a centrifuge. Two of the first 100 customers have failed the tests. “They weren’t medically up to it,” says Virgin president Will Whitehorn.Forces can get much higher, though. Reference: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026805.900-space-tourism-flies-into-a-legal-black-hole.html?full=true

101-500) Passengers who deposited at least 100 000 USD are called pioneers.

??) Paris Hiltion (USA)
Date of flight: ??
Article on Wikipedia

128)Edward Roski Jr (USA)
Real Estate Developer
Date of flight: ?? Travel Agent: Crack Buck – San Diego

501) onwards: Passengers who deposited 20 000 USD = 10% of ticket fee are called Voyager

??) Richard Laronde (USA)
Owner Event Planning Business
Date of flight: ?? Travel Agency: ASA in New York

??) ?? USA Origin: India

??) John Criswick (Canada)
CEO Magmic Games
Date of flight
Profile on Linkedin

??) ?? (Canada)

??) ?? Auckland lottery-winner beneficiary (New Zealand)
Date of flight: ??

??) Franz Kaiser in Switzerland. Location: Egg
Date of flight: 2013
Travel Agency: Deluxetargets
Profile on Linkedin
Pilot of the flight: ??
Place of start: Majave-Dessert in California

??) ?? in Switzerland

??) Per Wimmer (Denmark)
Investment Bank Owner
Date of flight: 2013
Profile on Linkedin

??) Parents of Igor Kutsenko (Russia)
Date of flight: ??

??) Timur Artemyev and his wife (Russia)
Date of flight: ??

??) ?? Russia

??) UK Origin: India

??) India

??) ?? China

??) ?? Japan

552) Scott Borden in USA
Space Agent at Virgin Galactic, www.spaceagent.us
Date of flight: ?? Travel agency: www.spaceagent.us
has trained at the NASTAR center in Pennsylvania
Profile on Linkedin

Virgin is sticking by their ticket price of $200,000 and expects to offer lotteries and other means of democratizing the opportunity, including a reality-TV game show that is now under development.
http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/article/2006-09/unveiled-virgin-galactics-new-ride

Speculations about passengers:

1) Madonna

2) Tom Hanks

3) Lewis Hamilton

4) Sheik with family

5) Peter Brabeck (Chairman Nestle)

CEO of Virgin Galactic: Will Whitehorn

References:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2007-05-07-space-tourist_N.htm
Linkedin Search for Peoples with keyword Virgin Galctic

http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/panorama/destination_weltall_1.1926213.html

http://www.markrocket.com/
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080623/111778580.html
http://skinnymoose.com/adventurist/2008/10/28/paris-hilton-signs-up-for-virgin-galactics-first-sub-orbital-space-flight/
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/177889,branson-unveils-spaceship-two-design.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/20/europe/EU_GEN_Spain_Lucky_Stars.php
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-14927623.html
http://femalesoldiers.greyfalcon.us/Space.htm
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IK02Df03.html
http://spaceagent.us/blog.html/14
http://spacetourists.blogspot.com/2008/03/lottery-winning-beneficiary-im-heading.html
http://www.virtuoso.com/The+Company/Virgin+Galactic+Forum+at+the+Nastar+Center/
http://first-irish-astronaut.net/article.aspx?more=1
http://www.personalspaceflight.info/2007/07/19/space-tourism-developments-in-canada-and-india/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070718.wspace18/BNStory/specialTravel/home
http://www.money.co.uk/article/1002118-danish-banker-to-become-first-affordable-space-tourist.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5345872.stm
http://news.opodo.co.uk/articles/category/lighthearted_travel_news/2007-05-08/18141770-Space-tourist.php
http://www.space.com/news/060828_spaceshiptwo_next.html
http://www.skycontrol.net/airlines/sparks-fly-as-virgin-atlantic-announces-worlds-first-frequent-flyer-astronaut/
http://www.nastarcenter.com/news/view.php?volume=2&issue=3&article=96
http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=P14205
http://www.raumfahrt24.de/Artikel2/200512140764.html
http://www.tmm.de/top-magazin-hamburg/?p=495
http://www.parkavenuespacetravel.com/
http://www.ttgasia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13309
http://www.chicagospace.org/ISDC2006.html
http://first-irish-astronaut.net/news.aspx?uid=89691a6b-a250-4151-80c4-1e857d7f56b9
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4263789a11.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3322683/Science-Richard-Bransons-race-for-space-tourists.html
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/media/90/cosmos-founders-be-australias-first-space-tourists
http://www.studentshangout.com/index.php?s=99b184bf40cc777570867429e07d2d94&showtopic=27783&pid=190017&st=0&#entry190017
http://spaceagent.us/blog.html?pg=5&cnt=5&t=a
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2009/01/10/scotland-s-first-astronaut-on-his-trailblazing-journey-into-space-86908-21029675/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15921347/
http://travelvideo.tv/news/more.php?id=A10269_0_1_a2006111_M http://www.parabolicarc.com/2009/04/27/virgin-galactic-aims-sell-50000-space-tourism-seats-10-years/
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2009/04/26/branson-signs-up-formula-1-racers-for-space-tourist-flights/
http://jv.gilead.org.il/forum/2008/01/0071.html

Further topics:
Article on Wikipedia on the manufacturer of spaceship two

How does the spaceship interior look like ?
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/05/spaceship_2_int.html

What does the training look like ?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/03/virgin_space_tour_training_deal_inked/
Training at NASTAR: http://noolmusic.com/myspace_videos/centrifuge_nastar_virgin_galactic_bj.php

The future competitors are:
EADS Astrium, Rocketplane Limited, Space Adventures, and the Benson Space Company, Dassault Aviation

Spaceship Industry:
http://www.sete.gr/files/Ebook/2006/Dest._Space_Tourism_Goehlich.pdf
http://www.space-travellers.de/index.php?wohin=rocketplane
http://www.incredible-adventures.com/edgeofspace.html

Russia was the first country to pioneer space tourism! It started in 2001 to offer flights on the sojus rocket.

Travel Agencies:
Dubai headquartered, Sharaf Travel, the official Accredited Space Office for Virgin Galactic

The country that is home to the largest number of ticket buyers is the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Japan, Russia, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, and Ireland. In terms of the proportion of Virgin Galactic customers per capita, the top three countries are New Zealand, Ireland and Denmark.

Of the customers who have signed up so far, 15 percent are female, Wincer’s statistics show. Ten percent of total customers booked through a travel agent, but 30 percent of the bookings have been received via Virgin Galactic “Accredited Space Agents” — an initiative launched in January of this year, she said. Accredited Space Agents are registered travel agents who have been specially selected and fully trained on all aspects of the Virgin Galactic offering.

As for Accredited Space Agents (ASAs) around the world, the numbers are as follows:

Australia has nine travel agencies and about 30 travel consultants.
New Zealand has one national chain with 10 consultants.
Japan has one agency with five consultants.
The United States has 47 consultants from about 45 agencies, all of these are members of Virtuoso, a leading leisure travel network.
Canada has six consultants from four agencies (who will be trained next week in Vancouver and are all Virtuoso members).
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has one agency with about 12 consultants.
Then add one agency and two to three consultants from each of the following who are all being trained this week at the International Space University: Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, the United Kingdom, Russia, Israel, and the Czech Republic.
http://www.space.com/news/070703_virgingalactic_sales.html

spaceship one from Burt Rutan

??) Tom Higgins (Ireland)
Irish Psychics Live Boss
Date of flight: ??

??) Mark Rocket (New Zealand)
Owner at Avatar Ltd / NZS.com Ltd / Rocket Lab Ltd
Date of flight: 2012
Profile on Linkedin

??) Bill Cullen (Ireland)
Date of flight: 2009/2010
Irish businessman and philanthropist. He owned the Renault Ireland franchise until it was taken under more direct control by Renault in 2007. Reality TV Show host.

Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cullen_(businessman)

Newspaper article about Bill cullen and Virgin Galactic; http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/rocket-man-1318322.html

??) PJ King (Ireland)
President PJ King Investments

Hello world!

ppalme — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:13:39 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

Spaceshiptravel

Want to travel to Space with Virgin Galactic – win a seat

Spaceship Industry

Who will travel on spaceship two with Virgin Galactic into suborbital space ?

Hello world!