Ms Rotterdam in the Norwegian fjords.
Fly me to the moon
Lunar travel may soon be a reality for the likes of you and me, if these British space pioneers have their way
Excalibur AlmazShow Thumbnails
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"Douglas, we have take-off" may not sound like as snazzy as its Houston equivalent, but if British space travel companies are successful, it'll eventually be a phrase tripping off people's tongues. Last week, the private space travel company Excalibur Almaz, based in Douglas, Isle of Man, revealed that they hope to take paying passengers to the moon by 2015.
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32Comments
26/06/2012 15:17
26/06/2012 14:44
26/06/2012 13:57
26/06/2012 15:02
I've always thought the idea of commercial space travel was awesome and hoped to see it my lifetime.
But I guess in my cynical old age (28), I'm thinking what's the point. Unless there's some purpose to it what is it for? It'll be a case of the richest of the richest going there once to say they did it, then nothing.
But then, if they can get commercial flights to other planets and being terraforming, that would still be awesome. And rather than simply adding more of those greenhouse gases into the armposphere from the take off, it might alieviate the burdon on our overstretched resources.
The fact that the last one doesn't use conventional fuel us a good thing, but I was hoping for gravity control in my lifetime. Oh well, give a few more decades...
26/06/2012 15:03
26/06/2012 17:14
The Government: OK, we're in a serious fuel crisis where there are wars over the resource of crude oil. We need to save it for it to be sustainable for the future & also protect the environment.
Oh no, we'll just spend billions of pounds on this programme which will only benefit the super-rich & use up all the oil we got left in the process, well done Mr Cameron...
03/07/2012 11:53
26/06/2012 16:46
To the nay sayers. I say this we gotta start some where might as well let the rich pay for it now. The more they pay the cheaper it gets in the long run. More money is invested into it the quicker we can move our polluting industries up there instead of down here destroying the one place we have got we don't need help breathing.
26/06/2012 16:06
wel wel, the alternative to the British company is virgin galactic. It will soon launch people to sub-orbit in the fraction of the price ! tickets are going for $200,000 dollers. what a difference !. Their ships are designed better and look more sleek, and also safety is a very integral part of the design.
For skylon their concepts and 'theoretical' framework seems all good. However, they have not tested their engines in a real aircraft. Thus, have a veryyyyyy lonnggg way to go. so nothing to great if im being honest.
26/06/2012 15:04
26/06/2012 15:09
26/06/2012 15:14
26/06/2012 16:33
27/06/2012 01:26
Not sure how will it benifit the civilians and people like you and me.... may be this is an initiative to explore posibilities of other planets for human life survival ... as earth is only good for another 370 million year ( according to metro article).
In any case this sounds very unreasonable time , innvestment and effort from government whereas the same efforts can be made to improve current situations by increasing salaries , creating new jobs etc.
26/06/2012 16:48
Great. If only the London Government had not scrapped British space endeavours when it short sightedly ditched Blue Streak after its succesful launch then maybe we could be benifiting even more from the Space Industry in these islands. PS. A good landing spot is on the longest runway in Europe ,just north of the Isle of Man next to the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. Bon Voyage !
03/07/2012 15:48
27/06/2012 01:26
Not sure how will it benifit the civilians and people like you and me.... may be this is an initiative to explore posibilities of other planets for human life survival ... as earth is only good for another 370 million year ( according to metro article).
In any case this sounds very unreasonable time , innvestment and effort from government whereas the same efforts can be made to improve current situations by increasing salaries , creating new jobs etc.
26/06/2012 18:15
26/06/2012 17:31
26/06/2012 14:03
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