Re:SpaceshipTwo crashes shortly after Mojave test flight
by riffraff on Friday October 31, 2014 @04:46PM
(#8541042)
AFAIR there is an order of magnitude of two between the prospected prices of virgin galactic and a soyuz trip.
Re:SpaceshipTwo crashes shortly after Mojave test flight
by throwaway234 on Friday October 31, 2014 @05:49PM
(#8541279)
A ride on Virgin Galactic is $250,000 a ride to the ISS on a soyuz is $70,000,000.
Re:SpaceshipTwo crashes shortly after Mojave test flight
by jcreedon on Friday October 31, 2014 @06:21PM
(#8541386)
There is also at least an order of magnitude between their maximum altitudes.
Re:SpaceshipTwo crashes shortly after Mojave test flight
by wolf550e on Saturday November 01, 2014 @03:25AM
(#8542419)
The altitude is not important.
SpaceShipTwo is meant to get to zero velocity at ~105km up. Soyuz gets to 17,450 mph at 200km up (and then catches up to the station at 400km up). Only the speed sideways is important, and there is more than one order of magnitude difference.
I think it won't be that dire. People who sign up to fly into space on a new design would probably be aware of the risks involved.
Many people still climb Everest, dive into caves, and jump from clifs with wingsuits. I think there won't be a shortage and the future is bright and exciting.