The docking of the SpaceX Dragon with the International Space Station earlier this month served as a milestone for the emerging field of privately funded space travel. This week, Richard Branson's dreams of joining the commercial space flight race with his own Virgin Galactic program got a boost thanks to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Scaled Composites, the company developing the spacecraft for Virgin Galactic, received an experimental launch permit from the FAA for the rocket-powered phase of testing for its suborbital spacecraft, SpaceshipTwo.
"This important milestone enables our team to progress…bringing us a major step closer to bringing our customers to space," said George Whitesides, president and CEO of Scaled Composites. "We thank the FAA for their timely issuance of this permit, and for their responsible oversight of the test program."
Although the flamboyant and outspoken billionaire has made much of his aspirations tied to Virgin Galactic, the key difference between Branson's venture and that of SpaceX's Elon Musk is that the former is still focused, at this point, on suborbital travel, rather than the true orbital space flight currently being executed by the Dragon. Despite these differences, the two commercial ventures are indeed more similar than not in terms of their efforts to make commercial space travel a reality.
Branson made sure to laud Musk's efforts after the successful space docking. "Congratulations SpaceX for the first ever commercial hook up with the International Space Station," he said. "It is an incredible achievement and we want to extend many congratulations to Elon Musk and the whole team at SpaceX for an historic flight. Together with Virgin Galactic, there are now two commercial spaceships in the world. We look forward to working together with SpaceX in the future. The sky's no longer the limit!"
Branson has publicly stated that he hopes to launch his first flight by the end of this year, but the company has yet to set a firm launch date. Nevertheless, there is real enthusiasm for the venture, with over 500 tickets for the first flights already sold. In fact, the 500th passenger reservation, announced in March, turned out to be Ashton Kutcher, the actor currently working on a film in which he plays the part of the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
According to Virgin Galactic, SpaceShipTwo is the first rocket-powered craft designed to carry commercial passengers to receive such a permit from the FAA. The company recently released compelling new video of test flights being conducted as it prepares to make its own mark on the history of space travel.
