Take a Look Inside Virgin Galactic's Sleek Spaceplane
Virgin Galactic has unveiled renderings of the interior of its SpaceShipTwo spaceplane.
The ship will be able to carry two pilots and six passengers.
The company also released an augmented reality app which explores the newly released cabin designs.
Virgin Galactic has revealed what the cabin of its SpaceShipTwo spaceplane will look like.
At a press conference on Tuesday, streamed live on the company's YouTube channel, Virgin Galactic's new CEO, Michael Colglazier; founder Sir Richard Branson; Chief Space Officer, George Whitesides, and test pilot Beth Moses all teamed up to reveal new details about the spacecraft's interior.
The company's carrier plane WhiteKnightTwo and spaceplane SpaceShipTwo will take off from the company's spaceport in New Mexico. On each flight, six paying passengers the opportunity to travel to the very edge of space, reaching an altitude of 130,000 feet and briefly experience weightlessness before cruising back to Earth.
"We started with what we believed would be an optimal customer experience and then we built the spaceship around it," Branson said at the virtual unveiling. "We will continue with that ethos as we expand our fleet and cement Virgin Galactic 's position as the space line for earth."
Each passenger will be belted into customizable seats, all of which have a frame made from aluminum and carbon fiber and are wrapped in UnderArmor-designed fabric. The dynamic seats recline during the zero-gravity portion of the flight—to allow passengers more room to explore, of course—and during reentry to minimize the G-load. Displays on the back of the seat will show each passenger flight details like speed and how many Gs they're experiencing.
There are 17 windows from which passengers can peer out and view the Earth below. "The interior was designed with one thing in mind: the view of the Earth from space," Whitesides said. The cabin will also be equipped with 16 cameras aimed to capture the antics of Virgin Galactic's "astronauts" as they toss and turn in microgravity. Toward the back of the spaceplane, there will be a giant mirror—perfect for weightless selfies.
Researchers who would like to send their projects to space are in luck, too. The seats can be replaced with scientific payloads. This way, scientists who would like to conduct experiments in microgravity can actually ride into space with them.
Virgin Galactic's sole SpaceShipTwo spaceplane, VSS Unity, has a number of glide flights under its belt and has reached space twice. It'll still be a while before Virgin Galactic can get paying customers into those seats. The company still has a handful of test flights to conduct before launching with test passengers and, eventually Branson, on board.
You can take a tour of the cabin in augmented reality on Virgin Galactic's new app.
You Might Also Like
