http://news.yam.com/afp/life/200801/20080124411372.html
太空觀光腳步近了 維京集團公布新型太空船
法新社╱陳維聰 2008-01-24 17:35
（法新社紐約二十三日電）英國億萬富豪布朗森今天揭開最新型太空船面紗，並表示，這種新型太空船將在今年開始試飛。
布朗森計劃二零一零年開始將觀光客送進太空旅遊。他今天公布最新型「太空船二號」和雙艙系統「白色騎士二號」的模型與照片。白色騎士二號將在半空中，將太空船二號送進大氣層。
這兩種太空飛行器將在今年建造完成。
布朗森是維京大西洋航空公司董事長，也是民間太空飛行的主要推動者。他在記者會上說：「二零零八年確實是太空船之年。」
他說：「母船與新太空船的設計絕對漂亮，而且超過一九九九年我們首次登記維京銀河公司所預期的商業太空飛行。」
這兩種太空船目前正由「縮尺複合材料公司」在加州莫哈維建造中，可將顧客送進地球上空約一百一十公里的次軌道太空中。
布朗森說，目前已有二百多名乘客確認搭乘太空船，每人費用二十萬美元，並有八萬五千人表示有興趣。
太空船二號擁有許多圓形窗戶，可從各種角度參觀機外景色，它可搭載兩名機員和六名乘客，一旦他們進入太空中，將可經歷五分鐘的無重力狀態。首次飛行預期將在二零零九年進行。
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080124/wl_uk_afp/usbritainspacebranson_080124091709
Virgin's Branson presents new space ship
1 hour, 39 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AFP) - Tycoon Richard Branson unveiled his newest spaceship and said that test flights for the vessel would begin this year.
Branson, who has ambitious plans to begin carrying tourists on short flights into space by 2010, revealed models and photographs of the newest version of SpaceShipTwo and also the twin-fuselage WhiteKnightTwo which will ferry SpaceShipTwo into the atmosphere for a midair launch.
Construction of the two should be completed by this year.
"2008 is really going to be the year of the spaceship," Branson, president of the Virgin Atlantic airline and a key backer of the private space flight effort, told a press conference Wednesday.
"The designs of both the mothership and the new spaceship are absolutely beautiful and surpass any expectations for the future of commercial spaceflight that we had when first registering the name Virgin Galactic in 1999," he said.
The two vessels are being built by Scaled Composites, an aircraft builder in Mojave, California, with plans to provide paying customers flights into suborbital space some (70 miles above the earth.
Branson said more than 200 passengers have confirmed their plans for the flight, which will cost 200,000 dollars each, and that some 85,000 have expressed interest.
With its numerous round windows providing views on all sides, SpaceShipTwo will carry two crew and six passengers, who will experience five minutes of zero gravity once in space.
The first flight is expected in 2009.
Natasha Pavlovich, a native of Yugoslavia and member of the 100 "founders" selected for the earliest flights, said she was crossing her fingers to be on the first tourist flight, due in 2010.
"I will become the first astronaut from former Yugoslavia," she said. "I want to see with my own eyes God's creation."
Luxembourg businessman Jean Ries said he was among the very first to sign up and back the project.
"I am a private pilot, and for a pilot to go into space is the ultimate goal."
May the Force be with you
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