Virgin Galactic reveals giant mirror feature in cabin design for Beardy Branson's space bus
- Reference: 1596007929
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/29/virgin_galactic_unveils_cabin_design/
- Source link:
We know Virgin Galactic today revealed the interior design of Beardy Branson's space bus.
The spaceplane was designed to provide “safety without distraction, quietly absorbing periods of sensory intensity and offering each astronaut a level of intimacy required for personal discovery and transformation."
Helping things along are “halo windows” that “are used to subtly reflect back and therefore elevate the human responses to each of the contrasting stage of flight.”
[1]
The interior of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.
Source: Virgin Galactic. Click to enlarge
SpaceShipTwo also has mood lighting and handholds around the windows to help passengers during the six-minute weightless portion of the flight. And then there's that which has been located at the end of the cabin and “allows astronauts to view themselves weightless while illuminated by the natural brightness of the Earth.”
For those who might be a bit stressed by being strapped to a bomb designed to carry them beyond the only atmosphere known to be breathable by humans, the plane also features a colour palette thoughtfully designed so that the “golden metallics resemble luminous desert sands, blues conjure celestial spaces and teals inspired by the ocean, ground travellers back to Earth.” Each seat is also fitted with screens that display flight data as well as cameras to record passengers’ experience.
[2]Youtube Video
Virgin Galatic has not given a firm date for when it plans to start shooting people into space, but in 2018 SpaceShipTwo [3]reached space for the first time and in May 2020 [4]nailed another flight test.
More tests are scheduled soon.
Six hundred people have already put down $250,000 for a seat on the company’s first round of flights. Another 400 have paid $1,000 in refundable deposits to be next in line when tickets go back on sale.
The company already has its commercial operating license from the US Federal Aviation Administration, but it has to work through a list of “verification and validation” milestones before it can welcome passengers onboard.
Russia, meanwhile, has [5]re-launched its space tourism program and even offered the first citizen spacewalk, but at a cost likely to vastly exceed the price of a Virgin Galactic ticket. And with worse decor, too. ®
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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/07/29/spaceshiptwo_interior_source_virgin_galactic.jpg
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC286Dnq4M4&feature=youtu.be
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/13/virgin_galactic_gets_to_space_for_first_time/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/06/space_roundup/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/26/first_spacewalking_tourist/
[6] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Having just watched the awful marketing speak video, I don't need six minutes of micro gravity to achieve a queasy stomach.
If I was offered a seat for free, I would snap it up but even if I had that kind of money I wouldn't part with the equivalent price of a very nice villa with a pool and orange groves where I live.
It occurs to me that as nice and thoughtful as the interior design is in the Spaceship, it made no mention of sick bags or aerial vomit collection.
Never let reality interfere with a good* design.
* For typical marketing interpretations of "good", which usually don't align with any real-world interpretations.
Having just watched the awful marketing speak video, I don't need six minutes of micro gravity to achieve a queasy stomach.
If I was offered a seat for free, I would snap it up but even if I had that kind of money I wouldn't part with the equivalent price of a very nice villa with a pool and orange groves where I live.
There are vastly less expensive ways of feeling sick in micro gravity for a few minutes, for example [1]this and [2]this . Although if I wanted to feel dizzy and sick at the same time, I'd just drink six pints of snakebite.
When people said "take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints", I guess they meant big black smudgy carbon footprints.
[1] https://migflug.com/flights-prices/zero-gravity-usa/
[2] https://spaceadventures.com/experiences/zero-gravity-flight/
No need to pay him...
Branson makes me feel sick every day, just thinking about the amount of tax his companies dodge. I don't need to pay him for that effect.
Marketing circle-jerk
The spaceplane was designed to provide “safety without distraction, quietly absorbing periods of sensory intensity and offering each astronaut a level of intimacy required for personal discovery and transformation."
Helping things along are “halo windows” that “are used to subtly reflect back and therefore elevate the human responses to each of the contrasting stage of flight.”
What a complete load of pretentious, meaningless, utter bollocks drivel.
Re: Marketing circle-jerk
Well they've got an expensive luxury product that's years late, launching (maybe...) at a time of economic uncertainty, and that doesn't actually do anything useful. Got to try and differentiate it somehow.
Re: Marketing circle-jerk
Surely the marketing should be along the lines of
"You'll go into bloody space! It'll be frigging awesome! Weightless for six whole minutes! Windows! OMFG!"
Mood lighting my arse.
Re: Mood lighting my arse.
Err....
Re: Mood lighting my arse.
Thinking about it, why not?
Wouldn't it be great if every time you sat on the toilet for a number two - the bathroom was suffused with the beatiful glow of your now revealed anaLED BumLumination - reflected gently from the bowl?
Maybe a restful blue for your number 2 - with the option of a brighter mode to show your underlings that the sun shines out of your arse.
SPACESH1P CAB1N
Great. Now I can't unsee that "clever and futuristic-looking" typography.
What a pile of toss.
fixed it for ya
Passengers will be able to watch themselves float in their own puke while bathed in Earthlight
A 10-minute countdown ? For real ?
What idiot thought that include 10 minutes of countdown in a YouTube video would be worthwhile. It's already a stupid idea for a livestream, but nobody is going to watch 10 minutes of a countdown. So I skipped over all the talky parts until I got to the so-called "cabin reveal". I didn't find that it revealed all that much about the cabin. On the other hand, I found hilarious the fact that the pilots are in full gear with masks and an oxygen supply, whereas the passengers . . not so much.
I'm sure the passengers will be soo reassured by that.
Re: A 10-minute countdown ? For real ?
Well, the pilots are re-usable. Whereas the passengers have paid in advance, and are therefore counted as a consumable.
That's as it should be.
It makes sense to provide a luxurious interior with a great colour scheme. When the passengers don't even get to go to real space (100km) they need to something nice to justify the enormous amount of money they've spent.
From the man who wouldn't sell his private island to keep his airline afloat while suing the NHS, comes this expensive white elephant.
It's been so long …
since VG first sold tickets, I'm wondering how many of the initial ticket buyers will be declared medically unfit to fly by the time flights actually happen.
So many delays
Perhaps Branson should take on Crossrail as well.