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dreada5
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<b>'No experiments' for SpaceShipOne</b><br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3722596.stm<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>The team has turned down several offers, including the US government, to do scientific experiments on flights. <br /><br />Rutan says SpaceShipOne's task will be to focus on test flights for the commercial passenger craft that will be operated by Virgin Atlantic Airways. <br /><br />Once its flight life is over, SpaceShipOne will be joining other notable ships of exploration at the Air and Space museum. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Glad to see Rutan is SO focused on achieving the team's vision of mass space tourism. No doubt government contracts would bring in extra money for Scaled, but I guess he feels it'll just be a distraction to want he knows he can achieve now. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Virgin Galactic travellers will fly even higher than the pilots who flew the missions to qualify for the $10m Ansari X-Prize. <br /><br />The X-Prize flights had to be at least 100km, or 62 miles. <br /><br /> <br />Virgin has ordered five spaceliners from Rutan <br />Rutan is targeting an altitude of 69 miles, which would give passengers about seven minutes of weightlessness and more than twice as long to enjoy the view out the windows. <br /><br />"Every one of those passengers will have a much, much bigger window, a spectacular view," Branson said. " It'll be the most beautiful thing ever created by man." <br /><br />Virgin's agreement with Rutan and Allen is not exclusive. Mojave Aerospace Ventures is considering offers from four or five other companies as well, Rutan said. <br /><br />The spaceplanes will be based on SpaceShipOne technology, but will look very different, he said. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Sounds awesome!! <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />I w