维珍银河太空船内部结构 (维珍银河完成首次满员太空试飞)

在进行亚轨道太空飞行时乘坐维珍银河飞行的乘客将能够看到自己在下面的地球背景下失重,而16部摄像机记录了这次冒险。

在线事件显示了高度详细的设施,以改善客户的飞行体验,该事件揭示了该公司的火箭飞机机舱,一种名为SpaceShipTwo的机舱,该机舱正在接受测试以准备商业服务。

有十二个视窗供您查看,座位将为每次航班的六位乘客量身定制,并能够调节G力,当然还有情绪照明。

维珍银河太空船,维珍银河太空船与亚轨道飞行器

然而,设计师杰里米·布朗(Jeremy Brown)说,乘客最持久的印象可能来自机舱后部的大镜子。

“我们认为,当客户看到自己在机舱后部的模拟反射,看到自己在太空中自由漂浮时,将会有一种真实的记忆消耗……他们将与经验,”他说。

维珍银河(Virgin Galactic)由英国亿万富翁理查德·布兰森(Richard Branson)在2004年实验性“太空飞船一号”(SpaceShipOne)屡获殊荣的飞行之后成立。

像它的前身一样,SpaceShipTwo是一架火箭飞机,它悬挂在特殊的喷气式飞机下方并在高空释放。

自由下落片刻后,两名飞行员点燃火箭,飞船俯仰并以超音速垂直加速。

火箭关闭了,但是动量将飞船带入了太空的下部,在那里它上下颠倒,因此机舱顶部的窗户可以看到远处下方的地球。

乘客身穿Under Under Armour公司设计的太空服,将能够离开座位并在机舱内漂浮,这是在去年维珍银河公司第二次进入太空的过程中,由首席宇航员教练贝丝·摩西测试的把手。

该测试旨在帮助完成设计,并学习如何训练乘客宇航员,使其在失重并到达下降点之前到达最高点(即最高点)时将经历的体验。

摩西说,她测试了进出座椅的不同方法,在机舱内移动,并向镜子挥手致意,认为它不会迷失方向。

她说:“我还特意走到了机舱的某个位置,以最大程度地尝试从太空的宁静中欣赏远地点和地球的景色。”

几分钟后,随着飞机重新定向并开始与不断增加的大气密度互动,乘客将需要回到座位上,然后滑向没有动力的平台。

SpaceShipTwo是在加利福尼亚州莫哈韦的维珍银河工厂开发的,将在新墨西哥州南部的美国太空港进行商业运营,乘客将在飞行前接受数天的培训。

乔治·怀特塞德斯(George Whitesides)是前公司的长期首席执行官,现在是其首席太空官。他说,即将进行的试飞将包括四名机组人员,起着乘客的作用。

怀特塞德斯(Whitesides)现在将专注于未来技术,最近将首席执行官一职交给了迪斯尼公园国际公司的前总裁兼董事总经理迈克尔·科格拉齐尔(Michael Colglazier)。

该公司尚未确定付费旅客的航班日期。

该公司表示,已有600多人放下了存款。最初的座椅每个售价为250,000美元。怀特塞德斯(Whitesides)表示,成本可能会增加一段时间,但长期目标是使冒险之旅更容易获得,而费用可能更低。

原文:

LOS ANGELES -- Passengers flying Virgin Galactic on suborbital trips into space will be able to see themselves floating weightless against the backdrop of the Earth below while 16 cameras document the adventures, the company said Tuesday.

Highly detailed amenities to enhance the customer flight experience were shown in an online event revealing the cabin of the company’s rocket plane, a type called SpaceShipTwo, which is undergoing testing in preparation for commercial service.

There are a dozen windows for viewing, seats that will be customized for each flight's six passengers and capable of adjusting for G forces, and, naturally, mood lighting.

Yet designer Jeremy Brown said the passengers’ most lasting impression may come from a large mirror at the rear of the cabin.

“We think that there’s a real memory burn that customers are going to have when they see that analog reflection of themselves in the back of the cabin, seeing themselves floating freely in space ... that very personal interaction that they’ll have with the experience,” he said.

Virgin Galactic was founded by British billionaire Richard Branson after the prize-winning flights of the experimental SpaceShipOne in 2004. Branson plans to be the first passenger when commercial flights begin.

Like its predecessor, SpaceShipTwo is a rocket plane that is slung beneath a special jet airplane and released at high altitude.

After a moment of free fall, the two pilots ignite the rocket and the craft pitches up and accelerates vertically at supersonic speed.

The rocket shuts down but momentum carries the craft into the lower reaches of space where it flips upside down so that the windows on the roof of the cabin give a view of the Earth far below.

The passengers, clad in space suits designed by the Under Armour company, will be able to leave their seats and float about the cabin, using handholds tested by chief astronaut trainer Beth Moses during Virgin Galactic’s second flight into space last year.

The test was aimed at helping finalize the design and at learning how to train passenger astronauts for what they will experience as they become weightless and reach the top of the flight profile, known as its apogee, before the descent begins.

Moses said she tested different ways of getting in and out of the seats, moved around the cabin and waved at the mirror, concluding that it was not disorienting.

“I also purposely went to a point in the cabin to most dramatically try to enjoy apogee and a view of Earth from the stillness of space,” she said.

The passengers will need to return to their seats after a few minutes as the craft reorients and begins to interact with the increasing density of the atmosphere and then glides to an unpowered landing.

SpaceShipTwo was developed at Virgin Galactic facilities in Mojave, California, and will operate commercially from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico, where passengers will undergo several days of training before their flights.

George Whitesides, the former longtime company CEO who is now its chief space officer, said upcoming test flights will include four crew members playing the role of passengers.

Whitesides, who will now focus on future technology, recently handed the CEO role to Michael Colglazier, a former president and managing director of Disney Parks International.

The company has yet to set a date for flights with paying passengers.

The company has said more than 600 people have put down deposits. The initial seats were sold at $250,000 apiece. Whitesides said the cost may increase for a while but the long-term goal is to make the adventure more accessible, possibly at a lower cost.