Would you like some peanuts with your drink sir/mam?,..... When will space flight be as common as air travel?

Question

Would you like some peanuts with your drink sir/mam?,..... When will space flight be as common as air travel?

Answer 1

Well, it will probably be quite a while before orbital space travel becomes "commonplace" but I'm peronally very excited about Virgin Galactic's product that will be available within just a few years.

You may remember the X-Prize and its winner, SpaceshipOne. SpaceshipOne was the first flight into space by a private organization using no government money. Branson of Virgin Enterprises licensed the technology, and has paid Scaled Composites to build them a fleet of larger versions of the system, dubbed SpaceshipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo. These can carry two pilots and 6 paying passengers to space for a suborbital flight, giving about 5 minutes of weightlessness, and then returning to Earth.

They expect to begin flying paying customers some time in 2010 at a price tag of $200k each for the first hundred customers. They then expect a possible drop in price to $100k/seat for the next two years and then a relatively cheap $20k/seat. Once it hits $20k, I am going!

If they make good on this estimate, then I should be able to get to space some time before 2020. I'm very excited about that!

Answer 2

virgin air is already working on it. they devlopped several planes.and by now theyve had several successful testflights with their ship called spaceshipone. the site says theyre probably going to start launching comercially in 2009 a seat will be around 200.000 dollars. so at the moment it will probably be reserved for the very very rich.

check out the site:

http://www.virgingalactic.com/

as for when theyll become common... probably when the prices go down to a point where the average joe will be able to afford them.

Answer 3

Never.

I define "never" as any future based on currently known technology and physics.  If fusion becomes a practical energy source then woohah! look out Mars, look out stars.

If you look at the amount of pollution a ground to orbital vehicle generates, you better HOPE that its never, too, or we will all be living in artificial atmospheres here on Earth.

Although how common will air travel be in 25 years with the price of a gallon of jet fuel at $50.00?  Perhaps they will be just as rare.  But not likely in your lifetime, I'm guessing.  Certainly not in mine.  Baring global catastrophe...

Answer 4

i'm pretty sure within our lifetimes. no later than 2090

Answer 5

Well, they'll be launching pretty soon! But it will be very rare and VERY expensive for quite a while. To get to the ubiquitousness of air travel, say... eighty years?

Answer 6

not 2 long ago i wuz watchn a show on tv that had sumthin 2 do wit this question. if i remember correctly, scientists said that it will happen within the next century, so that would b 100 yearz. i dont kno, i could b wrong.