If you’ve got a cool quarter million plus burning a hole in your pocket, why not fire it up for a rocket ship ride into space, onboard a Virgin Galactic spacecraft?
Today, the exploratory space travel firm of the not so distant future unveiled yet a further element to the complete Virgin Galactic Astronaut experience, with the release of cabin designs. For staring out the window, it’s hard to think of anything better…
Virgin Galactic Spacefarer Cabin
For first class snobs on planet earth, you’ll be glad to know that seating is in a 1-1 layout, with no middle seats, and plenty of windows. There’s 17 to be precise.
Cantilevered from the cabin sidewalls, these carbon fibre seats are designed to minimize the effects of g-force, with “optimised” angle to enjoy the feeling of weightlessness.
Even back down on earth, windows matter, and Virgin Galactic managed to add viewing angles all over the Spacefarer cabin. There are port hole like windows everywhere, making sure earth never looks too close, but also not too far away.
Jeremy Brown, the cabin designer on this spacecraft took particular focus on cabin space, with the aim of optimising each persons individual area, so that when they leave their seat in to experience weightlessness, there’s plenty of room to bop around.
Going further, a honeycomb foam adorns cabin walls to not only create safety, but a nice fuzzy feeling in space, while you look drift around with zero gravity, staring back at the little blue ball known as earth, from afar.
Yes, for that large sum of cash you’re totally welcome to unbuckle your seatbelt and drift around the cabin, just like Tom Hanks and squad in Apollo 13. It’s as “out there” of an experience as mankind has ever fathomed.
Don’t worry about bringing your selfie stick either. Aside from the 17 windows on board, the spacecraft is equipped with 16 state of the art cameras to document your every twist, turn and “holy $h!t” face.
New prices haven’t been released, but early birds paid $250,000 a pop and first flights are said to be sold out. Any new registrants will be put on a future astronanut list, and must put down a $1000 deposit, due to the “unprecedented demand”. It’s refundable, within Galactic’s T&C’s.
It’s this, putting the kids through college, or a new Lamborghini, but if you can comfortably do more than one, and always wanted a new perspective on life, you’ll be joining in on one of the most fascinating ventures ever launched by man.
Go figure, it’s from Richard Branson, and the website to book your spot is now live.
The price isn’t the problem. A transatlantic round trip on heavy jet will run you not too much less than that. The problem is, my odds of ajet exploding is infinitesimally small. My odds of spacecraft exploding upon reentry are not that small.
Is there a bathroom ?
i’ll need to refer to seatguru to see ascertain the best seat!
… also, does anyone know what champagne the bar will be serving 😉