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The future is...what the heck is that?

#1

MindDetective

MindDetective

Branson unveils the VSS Enterprise, the flagship of the Virgin Galactic.

I can see why they made the design like that but it is not even close to what I imagined a launch delivering system would look like.


#2

Shegokigo

Shegokigo

I can tell you RIGHT now, the flight will not end well.


#3

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

I'll wait until after the equivalent of a Titanic accident IN SPACE. After hearing how well NASA does ship safety, I think it will take a metaphorical iceberg-in-the-dark to get these people to iron out the safety issues.


#4

Espy

Espy

Well that looks dumb. Spaceship FAIL.


#5

MindDetective

MindDetective

Note that the spaceship itself is the thing in the middle. It disconnects and then boosts into suborbital space where people can throw up for two hours before coming back to Earth (the wings unfold for the trip). The rest of it is just the delivery system to take the ship high enough for the launch. All in all, pretty wacky.


#6

Bonhomme Richard

Bonhomme Richard

What a heap...it doesn't even have proper spaceflight nacelles.


#7



Hansagan

Geez, what a bunch of grumpy gusses......come on guys, This is the future beginning right here. If space tourism becomes a commercial viability and the price keeps dropping....well, who knows...the sky is literally the limit.

I like the ship....its like a high tech version of the Wright Brothers plane, its new frontiers, its pushing the envelope.


#8

@Li3n

@Li3n

I for one approve of this future death trap for people with too much money...


#9

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

I'm still gonna wait until they give us escape pods...


#10

Null

Null

It's like taking a U-2 flight except that it uses a 'parasite' launch system.

The vehicle itself /is/ the escape pod. Anything else, at that atmosphere, and you aren't going to have to worry about it. Unless they decide to revamp the MOOSE system, and that would increase the payload too much.


#11

Shakey

Shakey

:humph:
I want my space ships to look like this.

That's not even close.


#12

Shegokigo

Shegokigo

I will enjoy video of the landings.


#13

Bowielee

Bowielee

North_Ranger said:
I'll wait until after the equivalent of a Titanic accident IN SPACE. After hearing how well NASA does ship safety, I think it will take a metaphorical iceberg-in-the-dark to get these people to iron out the safety issues.
Click to expand...
FYI, this wasn't developed by NASA, it was privately developed. Generally, technologies get safer when they're out of the hands of government agencies specifically because of the liability factors for private corporations.


#14

Frank

Frankie Williamson

North_Ranger said:
I'll wait until after the equivalent of a Titanic accident IN SPACE. After hearing how well NASA does ship safety, I think it will take a metaphorical iceberg-in-the-dark to get these people to iron out the safety issues.
Click to expand...
Pfff, NASA is a government agency that's hideously underfunded for what they're expected to do. Branson intends to make fat, awesome monies off of this venture, I'm guessing the safety measures put into this thing will dwarf NASA.


#15



Dusty668

North_Ranger said:
I'll wait until after the equivalent of a Titanic accident IN SPACE. After hearing how well NASA does ship safety, I think it will take a metaphorical iceberg-in-the-dark to get these people to iron out the safety issues.
Click to expand...
Yah after all their first test pilot was a 50 year old geezer.



#16

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

You know what else was made by the private sector? The Titanic.

I stand behind my statement.


#17



LordRavage

I am still waiting for my Veritech fighters.



#18

Null

Null

Well, if the SDF-1 hasn't crashed into a small atoll in the Pacific yet, we're not going to have the protoculture to make them, now are we?


#19



LordRavage

Lying Bastard said:
Well, if the SDF-1 hasn't crashed into a small atoll in the Pacific yet, we're not going to have the protoculture to make them, now are we?
Click to expand...
The government is hoarding all the protoculture. I know it.

Sounds like they got to you. :(


#20

phil

phil

Where are the phaser banks? I don't know what they plan on doing when the Romulans attack.


#21



Iaculus

Hey, I get a VF-25 Messiah for my next birthday, I'm happy. Not to say that something as basic as an EX-Gear wouldn't be fun.

The Enterprise? I don't see what everyone's getting so worked up about. The bit going into space just looks like a downsized shuttle.


#22



Chazwozel

North_Ranger said:
You know what else was made by the private sector? The Titanic.

I stand behind my statement.
Click to expand...
The Titanic was one ship out of how many that White Star Line (now Carnival Corp.) has made?

You're pretty much saying that Boeing is a failure because out of the hundreds of planes they made like 20 crashed over the last 70 years.


Lord help the car companies with this logic.


#23



Kitty Sinatra

Exactly when has the private sector had a polished safety record?

There's been a hell of a lot of poorly built cars get recalled, for example. And liability issues have never stopped the tobacco industry from killing their customers.

Also, I think Chaz's argument would also be an argument for NASA's safety record, too, especially as all their flights should be included, whether by shuttle, rocket, plane or saucer.


#24



Chazwozel

Gruebeard said:
Exactly when has the private sector had a polished safety record?

There's been a hell of a lot of poorly built cars get recalled, for example. And liability issues have never stopped the tobacco industry from killing their customers.
Click to expand...
No one builds anything with 100% security for your safety. I think it's funny when people don't realize the impossibility of it. If it's your time to die, it's your time. No reason to sit in a bubble dome all your life.


#25



Kitty Sinatra

You haven't seen this knife I built for you. It's 100% nerf foam for your safety. Sure it doesn't cut anything, but that just means you'll leave it in the drawer, thus eliminating the risk of poking your eye with it.


#26



Chazwozel

Gruebeard said:
You haven't seen this knife I built for you. It's 100% nerf foam for your safety. Sure it doesn't cut anything, but that just means you'll leave it in the drawer, thus eliminating the risk of poking your eye with it.
Click to expand...
Exactly.


#27



Kitty Sinatra

Indubitably.


#28



Chazwozel

Quite, yes.


#29



Kitty Sinatra

Ayup.


#30

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Chazwozel;311865][quote=North_Ranger said:
You know what else was made by the private sector? The Titanic.

I stand behind my statement.
Click to expand...
The Titanic was one ship out of how many that White Star Line (now Carnival Corp.) has made?

You're pretty much saying that Boeing is a failure because out of the hundreds of planes they made like 20 crashed over the last 70 years.


Lord help the car companies with this logic.[/QUOTE]

Chaz, your Serious is now at 8. I need you to be around... 3, 4. Definitely not 5 or over.


#31



Armadillo

I had no idea the White Star Line became Carnival. Who knew?


#32



Dusty668

Speaking of White Star Line:
The Britannic, which was originally to be called Gigantic, was renamed before her launch on 26 February, 1914. She was slightly larger than the other two ships (Titanic and Olympic) due to additional safety features which were incorporated after Titanic sank.

Before she could even enter service, she was requisitioned as a hospital ship and sent to Turkey to serve in World War One. On her fifth voyage, she struck a mine off the coast of Greece and sank in under an hour.

Violet Jessop, a White Star Line stewardess, survived the sinking of the Titanic and Britannic and was also aboard the Olympic when she collided with the Hawke.
Click to expand...
The moral, if someone named Violet is on your craft, GET THE F^%$# OFF NOW NOW NOW!!!

Source: http://www.lategreatliners.com/uk_whitestar.htm


#33

Shegokigo

Shegokigo

Ranger's point stands pretty firm still.

The "maiden" voyage ship died horribly and much later they got better at the safety features.


#34

SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Is it going to be actual Zero-G, or simulated weightlessness like the Vomit Comet?


#35

Bowielee

Bowielee

TeKeo said:
Is it going to be actual Zero-G, or simulated weightlessness like the Vomit Comet?
Click to expand...
The actual craft will be going into space. The carrier planes bring the craft into the lower atmosphere and then the spacecraft launches off of the carrier craft. Seems to me that it's much more efficient than NASA's current use of solid fuel boosters to get off the ground.

It's still sub orbital though.


#36

Null

Null

From what I understand, you'll need a pressure suit to survive the high altitude, so for all intents and purposes, it's in space. Granted, it's just in the upper tiers of atmosphere, but technically so's the International Space Station.


#37

@Li3n

@Li3n

Violet Jessop, a White Star Line stewardess, survived the sinking of the Titanic and Britannic and was also aboard the Olympic when she collided with the Hawke.
Click to expand...

In case someone didn't catch it, they where all in bad accidents which sank 2 out of 3 of that ship class...


#38



Dusty668

And the second ship that sank was in service for 5 years, so first trip was not a factor. Also there's not that many icebergs in suborbital areas.


#39

@Li3n

@Li3n

Fortunately space ships are less likely to be able to limp back to port after any collision, so i win anyway... :p


#40



Iaculus

@Li3n said:
Fortunately space ships are less likely to be able to limp back to port after any collision, so i win anyway... :p
Click to expand...
Congratulations! Your prize is a trip on the maiden voyage of the VSS Enterprise!


#41

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

TeKeo said:
Is it going to be actual Zero-G, or simulated weightlessness like the Vomit Comet?
Click to expand...
The weightlessness of orbital flight is mostly the same effect of the Vomit Comet. They are just falling with enough forward momentum to miss the Earth.

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:12 PM ----------

Give Olympic a break, it was sunk by an act of war.


#42



RocketGirl

Shakey said:
:humph:
I want my space ships to look like this.

That's not even close.
Click to expand...
Faugh! Gimme one of THESE:



#43

fade

fade

sixpackshaker;312165][quote=TeKeo said:
Is it going to be actual Zero-G, or simulated weightlessness like the Vomit Comet?
Click to expand...
The weightlessness of orbital flight is mostly the same effect of the Vomit Comet. They are just falling with enough forward momentum to miss the Earth.

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:12 PM ----------

Give Olympic a break, it was sunk by an act of war.[/QUOTE]

Yep. I don't think most people realize that orbit is just a fortuitous fall that just happens to overshoot the ground constantly. It's not like there's some invisible string tethering a satellite.


#44

@Li3n

@Li3n

sixpackshaker said:

Give Olympic a break, it was sunk by an act of war.
Click to expand...
I think that was the Britannic actually... the Olympic collided with a naval vessel but wasn't damaged enough to sink.


#45

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Ya, jumbled the sentence that I had read.


#46

@Li3n

@Li3n

Iaculus;312112][quote=@Li3n said:
Fortunately space ships are less likely to be able to limp back to port after any collision, so i win anyway... :p
Click to expand...
Congratulations! Your prize is a trip on the maiden voyage of the VSS Enterprise![/QUOTE]

Fiery death FTW...


#47



Dusty668

When a ship sinks, you may not reach shore, but a suborbital, you are guaranteed to reach ground level eventually.


#48

ThatGrinningIdiot!

ThatGrinningIdiot!

Dusty668 said:
When a ship sinks, you may not reach shore, but a suborbital, you are guaranteed to reach ground level eventually.
Click to expand...
Perhaps as a disintegrated mass of particles?


#49



Hansagan

RocketGirl;312170][quote=Shakey said:
:humph:
I want my space ships to look like this.

That's not even close.
Click to expand...
Faugh! Gimme one of THESE:

[/QUOTE]

That looks like the Millennium Falcon trying to take a space 1999 Eagle roughly from behind :)


#50



Dusty668

BlackCrossCrusader;312397][quote=Dusty668 said:
When a ship sinks, you may not reach shore, but a suborbital, you are guaranteed to reach ground level eventually.
Click to expand...
Perhaps as a disintegrated mass of particles?[/QUOTE]

Well not every plan is perfect...


#51

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Hansagan;312400][quote=RocketGirl said:
Click to expand...
That looks like the Millennium Falcon trying to take a space 1999 Eagle roughly from behind :)[/QUOTE]

"Transmit my designation, bitch!" :rofl:


#52

@Li3n

@Li3n

Dusty668 said:
When a ship sinks, you may not reach shore, but a suborbital, you are guaranteed to reach ground level eventually.
Click to expand...
Or sea level...


#53



Soliloquy

fade;312178][quote=sixpackshaker;312165][quote=TeKeo said:
Is it going to be actual Zero-G, or simulated weightlessness like the Vomit Comet?
Click to expand...
The weightlessness of orbital flight is mostly the same effect of the Vomit Comet. They are just falling with enough forward momentum to miss the Earth.

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:12 PM ----------

Give Olympic a break, it was sunk by an act of war.[/QUOTE]

Yep. I don't think most people realize that orbit is just a fortuitous fall that just happens to overshoot the ground constantly. It's not like there's some invisible string tethering a satellite.[/QUOTE]

After all, the secret to flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground, and miss.


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