Virgin Galactic to Unveil New “Milestone” Next Week
Editor’s Note: My guess is they will unveil the passenger flight suits in some sort of fashion event, probably involving some fashion models. I wonder if Karlie Kloss, who has said her dream is to fly to space, will be there.
Why do I think it’s the flight suit? Ticket holders have been coming in and other of Mojave in recent months to get fitted for the “spacesuit.” There’s not going to be a lot of things going into space with them. And NYC is a major fashion capital.
Chief Pilot David Mackay gave a talk recently here in Mojave. He said passengers will not wear pressure suits, but they will have oxygen masks in the event of an emergency.
If they are unveiling the flight suit on Wednesday, calling it a milestone is a bit of a stretch. The Crew Dragon parachute drop tests, static fire, in-flight abort flight and orbital mission discussed during the briefing at SpaceX headquarters on Thursday are actual milestones.
Unveiling a flight suit is primarily a marketing and public relations event. Really important milestones will be completing the SpaceShipTwo flight test program and actually flying some passengers next year.
12 responses to “Virgin Galactic to Unveil New “Milestone” Next Week”
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I guess I’m just cranky today. I was thinking they are coming up on five years without killing anybody.
I take your point. Still, it’s better than if they weren’t coming up on five years since killing anybody.
15 years since launching the program at end of last month, 5 years since the crash end of this month. Explains all the announcements lately..
When your “steak” isn’t ready to serve yet, you’ve got no choice but to do the best you can selling the sizzle.
Well said. Selling sizzle is Branson’s specialty.
actually that was the first thing I was taught when I started doing some selling ..
“sell the sizzle not the steak” Branson is a master of that strategy .. so is Musk. Elon doesn’t talk about getting a person to LEO .. he talks about landing on Mars..
…If they are unveiling the flight suit on Wednesday, calling it a milestone is a bit of a stretch…
Yeah.
No pressure suit. Star Trek Voyager showed some aliens beamed into space. Bodies did not blow up. So I guess no effect on the body in vacuum. Just need oxygen until pressure is restored. Only a few minutes so not enough to hurt. Hard to figure.
Star Trek is fiction, not a space medicine documentary.
If the VG suits are positive mechanical pressure garments – i.e., Spanx in Space – then maybe just a positive pressure oxygen mask would be enough to get one down to sensible atmosphere again in the event of a hull depressurization. As an added bonus, such suits would maximally flatter anyone wearing them – not an especially minor consideration given the demographic most likely to fly VG.
If one’s neck, head and most of one’s face wasn’t part of the zone of positive mechanical pressure applied by the suit, though, nobody on that flight would be looking good in photos for awhile even if they all lived to tell about it. Something for aspiring supermodel-astronettes to think about.
Excellent tweeting, Mr. Messier – “alliterate supermodel” 🙂
Alliterate means the person has the same letter at the beginning of first and second name. You’re probbably thinking of illiterate.
And that’s why it was funny.
You used the verb alliterate as as if it were an adjective. Even though it’s grammaticaly incorrect, it sounds right because “illiterate person” is a legitimate and a commonly used term. Given the context and that Karlie Kloss’ name alliterates, it was clear what you were referring too and meant to write what you did, thus my compliment on the word play.
There’s no need to defend it, the grammar violation was clever use of a literary license.