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Showing posts from October, 2011

Virgin Galactic hires second pilot astronaut

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The age of commercial astronauts has arrived.  Virgin Galactic announced yesterday that it had selected former USAF test pilot Keith Colmer as its newest commercial astronaut pilot.  He was the sole person chosen from a highly competitive pool of more than 500 applicants, probably comprised mostly of test pilots and former astronauts.  The press release mentions that "additional selections will be made as the company nears commercial operations," so if you're an accomplished test pilot and want to fly in space, it's time to dust off that resume.   Colmer joins David Mackay as Virgin Galactic's second astronaut pilot. Mackay began flight training on WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo  earlier this year  and has been designated as Virgin Galactic's chief pilot.  He will pilot the  first commercial suborbital spaceflight in 2013 . He was tapped from a pool of  several Virgin Atlantic pilots  who may one day also serve as pilots in the burgeoning spacelin

An insider look at Virgin Oceanic

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"With space long ago reached by man, and commercial spaceflight tantalizingly close, the last great challenge for humans is to reach and explore the depths of our planet's oceans." Sir Richard Branson made that statement shortly after announcing Virgin Oceanic earlier this year.  With this week's dedication of Spaceport America and the start of NASA's latest NEEMO Mission , the seemingly unrelated topics of spaceflight and aquanauts are all abuzz on the interwebs. Nowhere do these two ideas converge better than in Virgin Oceanic . Realizing that more than  95% of the Earth's oceans are unexplored , Virgin Oceanic hopes to ignite public excitement in ocean exploration by venturing to the deepest points on Earth.  In the process, we'll learn a great deal about those environments and ourselves.  As submersible technology improves, this could lead to a whole new realm of possibility for humans to explore our home planet. Today, I have the distinct p

NASA will hire new astronauts in 2013

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NASA announced earlier this week that it will seek a new class of astronaut candidates starting in November 2011 for selection around March 2013.  While the focus is on providing crewmembers to support the International Space Station (ISS), the announcement specifically mentions that the new astronauts will participate in missions "beyond low Earth orbit" too.  With the Shuttle now retired and NASA's future plans somewhat in question, I think it's encouraging that NASA is advertising this class as the first to potentially take part in missions to destinations beyond the ISS in the 2020-2025 timeframe.  Since that likely means field exploration on asteroid and lunar surfaces leading up to martian missions, maybe NASA will place higher importance on selecting astronauts with a geoscience background this time. The head of NASA's Astronaut Selection Office Duane Ross offered some details on the scope expected for the new crop of astronauts: “The new class wil