The Virgin Galactic Story

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In the next 18 months, we will see the first regular paying customers take trips to space aboard Virgin Galactics SpaceShip 2. The story of this company's creation, and the momentum it has created for a new commercial space industry never gets old in its telling. Their story is a great victory in making space travel available to everyone. 

This post serves to introduce (or re-introduce) you to how Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company was created. Enjoy!...

St.Louis Missouri, May 18th 1996...

A 10 million dollar prize was offered to the first team that could fly 3 passengers to 100km (62 miles), and do it twice within 2 weeks. It was called the X Prize. Founded by Peter Diamandis, the goal of the X Prize Foundation was to spur innovation in new industries that would benefit mankind for decades, possibly centuries to come. Interestingly, the name "X Prize" was chosen because they did not have a donor with the 10 million dollars to offer, so they placed the variable "X" in place of the persons name who eventually would donate the prize money. In 2002, the X Prize Foundation was donated the 10 million dollars by Amir, and Anousheh Ansari, so the prize was renamed the Ansari X Prize (You figure they would have removed the "X" after this point, but it was stuck). Over 26 teams from 7 nations competed in this prize, with many unique and wild ideas on how they would win it.

Burt Rutan and Paul Allen

Brian Binnie (SS1 Test Pilot), Paul Allen, & Burt Rutan. Courtesy of Scaled Composites

The team that would go on to win the Ansari X Prize in 2004 was Scaled Composites, led by aviation visionary Burt Rutan. By no means should the winner of this prize be a surprise to anyone. Rutans aviation design experience spans over 4 decades, pushing the boundaries of conventional aircraft design. For the X Prize competition, Rutan and his team at Scaled were able to dip their imagination into the deep pockets of Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, and one of the richest men in the world.  Besides owning ridiculous sized yachts, and buying sports teams, museums, stadiums,  real-estate... I can go on but I won't... Allen is a philanthropist, and investor in things that are meant to change the world for the better. As a kid during the Apollo era, he grew up very fond of space travel, and the benefits it could provide humanity. Paul heard about the prize, and was intrigued about the idea of building a sub-orbital vehicle. When Paul became familiar with Rutans innovative work in aviation, he knew he had a shot at building something great.

Winning the Prize

SpaceShip and WhiteKnight One - Courtesy of Scaled Composites

Jeff Foust wrote an interesting article on The Space Review entitled "Paul Allens Past (and Future) in Space." He summarizes parts of Allens latest published memoir "Idea Man," In which he states how Rutan and Allen's involvement in the prize changed over time:

"Although Rutan attended the St. Louis event in May 1996 that formally announced the X PRIZE and was the first to register for the competition, Allen notes in the book that their effort was not originally designed to win the prize: in fact, the original vehicle design was apparently only intended to carry a single person. Only when the Ansari family donated the money in 2002 needed for the “hole-in-one” insurance policy that would fund the prize purse did Scaled modify the vehicle to carry three people as required by the prize rules. That redesign caused the price of the project to more than double, from $9 million to $19 million, according to Allen."

The final design of SpaceShip One was a 3 seat, hybrid rocket powered vehicle with a composite (graphite epoxy) structure. SpaceShip Ones flight would consist of being lifted by a carrier vehicle known as WhiteKnight One to an altitude of 50,000 feet. Spaceship One would disconnect, drop, and the hybrid rocket would fire and propel SpaceShip One upward.

The first successful flight of spaceship one happened on september 29, 2004, where it reached an altitude of 337,500 ft. (102.8 km). They were able to launch again by October 4th, 2004 and went to an altitude of 367,442 ft. The second successful flight of SpaceShip One made Scaled Composites the winner of the Ansari X Prize. The SpaceShip One vehicle now hangs in the National Air and Space Museum, right next to the Spirit of St. Louis flown by Charles Lindbergh.

Sir Richard...

Richard Branson in a space suit...Why not...

If the partnership of Burt Rutan and Paul Allen wasn't a match made in heaven already, Sir Richard Bransons involvement would solidify SpaceShip One's history forever. Instead of being involved in the competition by providing the initial funding for a design team, Branson along with Will Whitehorn monitored the progression of the competition to see who was good enough to win it. When it became clear to Branson that Scaled Composites was the front runner, and had a great vehicle design that could be improved to carry more passengers, Branson became involved. In 2002, Branson worked out a deal with Rutan and Allen's joint company, Mojave Aerospace Ventures to license the Spaceship technology if Scaled ended up winning the competition. He would then turn this new spaceship technology into the first space tourism business to send hundreds, potentially thousands per year to space. 

I wonder how that all worked out..... ;)

Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company

First Feather Flight of SpaceShip Two. Photo by Clay Center Observatory/Virgin GalacticOn the day of Scaled Composites second flight, and winning the 10 Million Dollar Prize, Virgin Galactic was born. As of late, the company has signed over 450 people for flights in the near future, at a price of $200,000 per seat. The new Virgin Galactic Vehicle is called SpaceShip 2. It is a 2 pilot, 6 passenger rocket powered vehicle, compared to the original SpaceShip One which could only carry 3. 

Virgin Galactic plans to have a fleet of vehicles, consisting of 5 Spaceship 2's and 3 Whiteknight Two's. In order to mass produce these vehicles, they have started The SpaceShip Company, which will handle the production of these vehicles. 

Final Thoughts - Is this just a joy ride for the rich?

Yes. For now...

Obviously, the only customers Virgin Galactic will have will be the rich, and people who have their ticket paid for them by a company to conduct scientific research and other things aboard the vehicle. It is safe to say that their ticket price of $200,000 excludes most people. However, if we look over the course of our history, new technologies that eventually become the technologies we use every day, follow a very typical path on their progression to being cheap, and ubiquitous. In my next blog post, I will talk about that technology path, and why Virgin Galactic,  and others like it are the start of making space travel a common part of everyday life for everyone. Until next time, thanks for reading!

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