There is still time to sign up for the first Space Hacker Workshop for Suborbital Experiments this weekend in Mountain View, Calif. Come see how you can design a space experiment for —  and even fly aboard —  XCOR’s Lynx suborbital space plane. The workshop runs Saturday and Sunday.

The discounted $125 registration rate expires tonight at midnight PDT. If you show up at the door, it will cost you $150. Sign up at spacehacker.eventbrite.com.

A press release with a full description of the workshop follows after the break.

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Credit: ATK

Arlington, VA., April 25, 2013 (ATK PR) − ATK (NYSE: ATK) has successfully completed its solid rocket booster Preliminary Design Review (PDR) with NASA for the new Space Launch System (SLS). The PDR milestone indicates the booster design is on track to support first flight of the SLS in 2017. The SLS vehicle will support NASA’s human spaceflight exploration to all destinations beyond low-earth orbit.

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. 1. Monday, April 29, 2013, 2-3:30 PM PST (5-6:30 PM EST, 4-5:30 PM CST): ED WRIGHT joins us for Citizens in Space updates and info about the upcoming Space Hacker Workshop in Silicon Valley: https://spacehacker.eventbrite.com/#. 2. Tuesday, April 30, 2013 2013, 7-8:30 PM PST (10-11:30 PM EST, 9-10:30 PM CST): Retired astronaut JERRY ROSS is with us to discuss his new […]

Sir Richard Branson and daughter, Holly, look through the window of a SpaceShipTwo shell. (Photo credit: Mark Greenberg/Virgin Galactic)

In an interview broadcast Monday night on KABC-TV 7 News Los Angeles, Branson said a seat on the suborbital space plane would now cost $250,000 — an increase of $50,000 from the price the company has been advertising for eight years.

Now, does that seem a bit counter-intuitive, wouldn’t it? Absolutely. But, this is actually a clever marketing move. How so? Now, you really didn’t think I’d tell you before the break, did you?

Read on.

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SpaceShipTwo in its first powered flight over Mojave. (Credit: MarsScientific.com and Clay Center Observatory

Boom camera shot. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)

SpaceShipTwo in powered flight. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)

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SpaceShipTwo just prior to landing. (Credit: Ken Brown)

MOJAVE, Calif. (Virgin Galactic PR) – Today, Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi’s aabar Investments PJC, completed the first rocket-powered flight of its space vehicle, SpaceShipTwo (SS2). The test, conducted by teams from Scaled Composites (Scaled) and Virgin Galactic, officially marks Virgin Galactic’s entrance into the final phase of vehicle testing prior to commercial service from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

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Ah, this is a bit embarrassing. It looks as if I was a bit too hard on the Mojave Air and Space Port. The airport has set up a viewing area for the public and press who want to see the SpaceShipTwo flight scheduled for Monday morning. If you go in through the main entrance off Business Route 58 (between the Mariah Country Inn and the two aircraft), there is […]

I dropped by the Mojave Air and Space Port earlier this afternoon. WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo were sitting outside of the Scaled hangar. Nobody seemed to be around. The preparations for Monday’s flight will likely start late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, we seem to know the identities of the pilots for tomorrow from a former Virgin Galactic employee who Tweeted them: Best of Luck to pilots David Mackay WK2 […]