Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo arrived hitched between the twin fuselages of WhiteKnightTwo, its mothership and launch platform.
“For the first time we’ve brought the spaceship and WhiteKnight to a commercial airport…. It’s just a fantastic, exciting day,” says an obviously amped-up Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides. Before he was the company’s CEO, Whitesides was one of the first people to sign up for a $200,000 ticket to ride on the space plane.
Commercial flights will begin in a year or two, Whitesides added.
The spaceship/mothership combination landed at SFO in formation with a more typical Virgin vehicle, an Airbus A320, which carried celebrity passengers such as Virgin founder Richard Branson (seen peering out the window in the video above) and pioneering astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
A handful of lucky schoolchildren who are part of a Virgin-backed nonprofit foundation’s effort to get students interested in science, math and entrepreneurship, also got to ride, plus a passel of journalists.
It’s just one of the public relations benefits Virgin enjoys as a result of operating both a domestic air carrier and a suborbital spaceflight operation.
The event was staged to show off Virgin’s new home at SFO’s Terminal 2, a sleek new structure that’s been under construction for nearly 10 years. The company touted the green credentials of the new terminal and its fleet. For instance, contractors recycled 90 percent of the construction project’s debris, according to Virgin. It is also LEED Gold-certified, meaning the terminal meets stringent criteria for energy efficiency.
“Virgin America has the most advanced and carbon-efficient commercial fleet in the U.S,” Whitesides said in a statement. The 700-800 gallons of jet fuel consumed by the hourlong, celebrity-laden A320 flight was not mentioned.
Also of interest to travelers is the terminal’s free Wi-Fi, “elevated laptop work stations” with power outlets, and hydration stations for refilling your Earth-friendly, reusable, stainless steel water bottles.
But at the end of the day, it was the spaceship that stole the show. There’s no word on whether regular flights to space will actually depart from SFO once Virgin Galactic begins commercial operations.
If so, they might have to rename the airport San Francisco Interplanetary.
Video: Michael Lennon/Wired.com. Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson gazes at his spaceship from the window of his airplane.
Totally legit astronaut Buzz Aldrin uses an iPhone aboard a Virgin America flight.
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