CALIFORNIA: Virgin Galactic Spaceship Crashes In Mojave Desert On Test Flight

It's been a horrible week for the space industry.

Facebook Twins In Space

From the Winklevoss twins' blog:

Humans have a long tradition of exploring and forging new frontiers, both physically and metaphorically. In the Middle Ages, Marco Polo’s writings - which recounted his 24 years of travel and trade on the Silk Road – built a new and lasting level of economic and cultural awareness between Europe and Asia. 200 years later, they would inspire 15th century explorer Christopher Columbus to search for a shorter route to the Far East by sea. While Columbus did not achieve his original goal, he did manage to bring word of a new landmass back to Europe, which planted the seeds of hope and possibility in the minds of persecuted Pilgrims, who fled to and settled North America 100 years later. Such stories of inadvertent and iterated accomplishment are all too familiar in the spheres of exploration and innovation. They demonstrate how the building blocks of human discovery are not necessarily brilliance and perfection, but rather, the courage to fail and persistence to keep on trying.

Also reportedly booking seats on Virgin Galactic: Ashton Kutcher, Angelina Jolie, Katy Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Russell Brand. The $250,000 ticket price converts to 374 Bitcoins. For today at least.

Virgin Galactic Makes Test Flight

Via the Los Angeles Times:

Virgin Galactic, British billionaire Richard Branson’s commercial space venture, reached its highest altitude yet Friday in a supersonic rocket plane that’s set to carry paying customers into sub-orbit later this year. The company’s SpaceShipTwo blasted through the sound barrier and sped to Mach 1.4, climbing to 71,000 feet in its first powered test flight of the year. The flight, the program's third rocket-powered test flight, is the latest milestone in Virgin Galactic’s goal to take dozens of people into space multiple times each day. The test flight took place shortly after sunrise Friday beginning on the desert runway at Mojave Air and Space Port, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. During the test, SpaceShipTwo was taken to about 46,000 feet by a carrier aircraft and dropped like a bomb. After a short free fall, test pilots Dave Mackay and Mark Stucky engaged the hybrid rocket motor, powered by nitrous oxide and a rubber compound, for about 16 seconds, at which point SpaceShipTwo accelerated to Mach 1.4.

Amazing video.

Lady Gaga To Sing In Space

Lady Gaga has booked a ticket on Virgin Galactic and will perform a song from low-orbit in 2015. Seriously.

The "Dope" performer, 27, is set to blast off in a Virgin Galactic ship and belt out a single track during the Zero G Colony high-tech musical festival in New Mexico. "She has to do a month of vocal training because of the atmosphere," says a source, who adds that the diva's glam squad will join her in the shuttle. Zero G Colony is a three-day hi-tech festival set to take place at Spaceport America in New Mexico that features world-class entertainment and cutting-edge technology. Gaga's performance in space is planned to take place on the third day at dawn, which is approximately six months after the first Virgin Galactic commercial flight.

Gaga will be the first pop star to perform in space. That's if you don't count Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's amazing rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity, which he performed from the International Space Station in May.

RELATED: Openly gay boy band-er Lance Bass was supposed to fly to the ISS in 2002, but Russian officials canceled when television producers failed to raise the $2M fare.

Virgin Galactic Unveils World's First Commercial Passenger Spaceship

Yesterday Virgin Galactic publicly unveiled the world's first commercial passenger spacecraft, which can take six passengers and two pilots into suborbital flight. The passenger capsule is suspended between two more traditional aircraft which will carry the vehicle into the upper atmosphere before releasing it. Already 300 people have paid a total of $40M for the less than ten minute flight. Testing begins early next year. Suborbital commercial air travel may become a reality for business passengers within the next 20 years, with flights from Hong Kong to London taking about three hours. If you had $300K to burn, would you go into space? I'd so be up there.

Spaceman Sullenberger?

US Airways Flight 1549 pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who with his crew was honored on the field before yesterday's Super Bowl, has a high-flying offer from Richard Branson.

U.S. Airways better guard Capt. Chesley Sullenberger 3rd. Virgin Air billionaire Richard Branson wants to poach the “Miracle on the Hudson” pilot. “I’d like him to come fly for us,” Branson tell us. “We’ll make him the best-paid pilot at Virgin — we’ll give him double [the salary of] anybody else. He also can become one of the astronauts in my intergalactic spaceship company. The man can write his own ticket with me.” Sullenberger sounded interested when we conveyed Branson’s offer. “That’s amazing,” said the man who saved the lives of 155 people when he deftly landed a jetliner in the freezing Hudson River on Jan. 15. “I hadn’t heard that.” Sully, whom we reached at his home in Danville, Calif., wouldn’t say what his next move will be, but he’s been getting offers. A lot. “I will be happy to entertain all the things that are coming my way,” he told us.

Virgin Galactic is aiming for its maiden commercial space flight in late 2010. The cost is expected to be about $200,000 or 25 million Virgin frequent flyer points. Customers of the Australia-based Virgin Blue earn a chance in their space flight lottery for every frequent flyer point they accrue.