Let me for a few minutes take your mind off the craziness going on in our own world right now by providing you with the fantasy of going off into another one. And I say fantasy because, unless you’ve got a spare $250,000 lying around, a trip to space will have to be left to the work of our voracious imaginations….with a little help from pictures.
The VSS Unity spaceliner has 12 windows going all the way up to the ceiling, 5 more windows up front and 16 cameras with high definition footage. The two rows of reclining chairs with an aisle in between are set up like a regular airplane but the seats are individually sized. Chief Space Officer George Whitesides revealed to Reuters: “We have amazing seats that will be tailored to each person, and that move during the flight to maximize people’s comfort.”
Regarding the cabin design, Virgin Galactic has said that, “The color palette of the cabin has been carefully curated so that it complements the architecture of the seat, the cabin itself and spacesuits. The golden metallics resemble luminous desert sands, blues conjure celestial spaces and teals inspired by the ocean ground travelers back to Earth.”
The most exciting part of this quarter of a million dollar trip is reaching peak altitude and being allowed to unbuckle your seatbelt. If floating around a spaceship in zero gravity is not already on your bucket-list, it’s time to add it on.
VSS Unity is not offering rides just yet but for those who are so inclined (ahem.. financially inclined. I’m looking at you Leo DiCaprio!) tickets can be secured for $250,000. Surprisingly enough, 600 people have already signed up to fly those 60 miles above the surface of our home. I think we’re all getting a bit tired of this planet, honestly.
As of yet, there is no date for the first commercial flight, but test flights have been completed and Virgin Galactic is getting close to fulfilling its mission. What we do know is that the SpaceShipTwo will be launched from New Mexico, attached to a bigger plane called WhiteKnightTwo. At 50,000 feet, it will drop the spacecraft and VSS Unity’s rocket motor will then kick on. The flight will last 90 minutes – 90 minutes which I’m sure will be engrained onto the memory of anybody who experiences it.
If this is not the epitome of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I don’t know what is. What I wouldn’t do to get on that spaceship. I’d sell my soul to get on that spaceship.
Alas, maybe one day it will be just as accessible as getting on an airplane. Until then, however, I will content myself by pretending I’m Major Tom and singing:
“Here am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do.”
