In the Mojave desert, Richard Branson today showed off for the first time the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft that will launch his commercial space craft SpaceShipTwo.

More info a the official site Virgin Galactic

Obviously a complete coincidence that this coincides with NASA's 50th. picked by pocksucket 1 year ago

Astrium, the space systems arm of European aerospace company EADS, says it wants to build a four-passenger rocket-equipped jet to send space tourists to an altitude of 100 km (60 miles) above the earth for three minutes of weightlessness and a rare view of Earth's curvature. picked by DrNothing 2 years ago

On April 12, 1961, the Soviets launched a 27-year-old fighter pilot named Yuri Gagarin on the world's first piloted space mission. picked by suebe 3 years ago

Amazing flight demo! I hope I live long enough to do something like this. Richard Branson (Virgin) is just the guy to do it too.

See also:
(BBC news coverage posted by mrnelson) picked by ogri2003 2 years ago

Virgin Galactic completed a successful test yesterday of its hybrid nitrous oxide motor that will propel space tourists into orbit. SpaceShipTwo will launch into orbit using these motors after reaching the upper atmosphere after detaching from the mother ship called Eve. picked by equinox 5 months ago

Oct 4th will be Sputnik's 50th anniversary. Although it had its scary connotations, the dawn of the Space Age was also a hopeful event. Visionaries celebrated humanity’s long-awaited climb out of its cradle, and pragmatists soon savored the benefits of communications and weather satellites. The evolution of the space program continues to be dramatic. In a decade or so, it will be hard... read full post picked by 2manyusernames 2 years ago

NASA discovered that space shuttle Atlantis has been holed by a tiny piece of space debris. The 1/10-inch hole represents the second largest debris damage event ever identified. Fortunately, it missed everything that was important to the mission. Space debris is an increasingly challenging problem. picked by Fanatic 3 years ago

Sir Richard Branson is set to unveil a mock-up of the Virgin vehicle that will carry customers into space. picked by mrnelson 3 years ago

Astronomers from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research have discovered a new cluster of galaxies, hidden behind a previously identified cluster of galaxies. The recently exposed cosmic giant is apparently just as bright as the first group, but is six times further away. The astronomers made the discovery as part of an international team using the space telescope XMM-Newton. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The Indian space programme hit a minor snag when it came to the menu. Many traditional dishes have side effects that you don't necessarily want in a confined space with limited breathable air on board. The Defence Food Research Laboratory have stepped up to help create a more pleasant atmosphere. picked by pocksucket 8 months ago

Anousheh Ansari is currently a tourist at the ISS, having paid to fly up on a Soyuz. Her blog is very entertaining, providing a view of everyday life in space that you won't find on any NASA site. Space Adaptation Syndrome, for example, isn't much fun. But life on ISS is! picked by Fanatic 3 years ago

Remember the astronaut who recently tested whether boomerangs return to their throwers in the absence of gravity? Well, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has released video of astronaut Takao Doi showing that the objects do, in fact, come back - even in the microgravity environment of the space station. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The idea behind a space elevator is simple. Deploy a cable stretching from the ground near Earth’s equator far enough into space, and centrifugal forces due to Earth’s spin will keep the cable taut.

*fixed picked by jLoSsDh 1 year ago

The concept of a space elevator has long been a dream for scientists and has here to date been a staple for science fiction authors. Japan hopes to change that and make the dream a reality. picked by bernardblack 1 year ago

Geomorphology from Space is an out of print 1986 NASA publication edited by Nicholas M. Short, Sr. and Robert W. Blair, Jr. designed for use by the remote sensing science and educational communities to study landforms and landscapes. It has a gallery of space images consisting of 237 plates, each showing a different geographic region where a particular landform theme is exemplified. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Catching a free ride to Mars takes more than sticking out a thumb, but some hardy Earth bacteria could survive as hitchhikers clinging to the outside of spacecraft, studies have shown. Now a set of experiments going up with space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station will test how exposure to the harshness of space might change bacteria during a simulated Mars mission. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

A moth-like structure with a 22-billion-mile wingspan is hovering out in space. This giant is actually a massive cloud of dust surrounding a nearby, young star imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope that has shown astronomers that these dust disks can take on unexpectedly unusual shapes. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

We all know that in space there is no gravity, thus things don’t fall down as they do on earth, they just float. Ok but what do you do when you need to go to the toilet, you don’t want your “things” to float all over the place do you? picked by niceplime 2 years ago

After its launch into space in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was stuck with blurry vision because its mirror wasn't quite right. It was the butt of jokes by late night comics; an editorial cartoon said its designer was Mr. Magoo, a nearsighted cartoon character. It seemed like a massively overbudget screw-up. picked by kakana 6 months ago

A new picture of a sunrise from space was taken with a handheld camera by astronauts Friday on the day the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station during shuttle mission STS-127.

Earth's atmosphere appears as a thin crescent shape ranging from white to blue to purple, while the planet in the foreground is a black as the void beyond. picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago