Re:America has more new spaceships on the way
by derekp7 on Monday June 01, 2020 @10:02PM
(#23386481)
To me, sub orbital is a "trip to space" in the same way as a non-stop flight from New York to LA is a "trip to Kansas" since you fly over it and other states in between.
You aren't going "to" some place unless you can actually stay there for a period of time. But that is just my personal view.
Another way of looking at it -- if the earth didn't have an atmosphere, would you be going "to space" by jumping on a trampoline? (ignoring the fact that we evolved to live in an atmosphere, of course).
Re:America has more new spaceships on the way
by dwaltrip on Monday June 01, 2020 @10:58PM
(#23386894)
Well, space tourists are likely going more for the 100km view and the zero-g experience, which is present for a few minutes on a sub-orbital trip. Given that you can't get this experience anywhere else, a few minutes is better than nothing.
The exiting of the atmosphere is part of the view [1], but it works in concert with the altitude. Trampolines, as far as I am aware, are incapable of propelling one to an altitude that provides such incredible views :)
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1...
That being said, I agree with you that their progress has been pretty damn slow. They do 1-2 test flights per year...
As for demand, doesn’t Virgin Galactic, who will offer something very similar, have a customer list with hundreds of people who have prepaid? Demand might be much higher than you are suggesting.