Commercial astronaut reaches for the stars

SpaceShip 2 prepares for re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere © Virgin Galactic

Banker Peter von May is planning to become the first ever Swiss space tourist onboard Richard Branson's pioneering Virgin Galactic space shuttle.

The flight, the first commercial venture of its kind, will climb up to a height of 110 kilometres above the globe, allowing the passengers to feel weightlessness and catch an exceptional view of the Earth.

Von May, a keen amateur pilot, is one of just 100 founder astronauts who have already paid $200,000 (SFr217,000) to be among the first Virgin Galactic customers. The first flights are expected to take place next year.

The 64-year-old signed up to the venture in 2007 after seeing it advertised in one of his flying magazines. One of the convincing factors for him was the presence of renowned aerospace engineer Burt Rutan on the project.

“He had this idea of a carrier plane with a rocket on it which goes up to 15 kilometres above the Earth and then launches the rocket with passengers in it,” von May told swissinfo.ch from his office near Wollerau above Lake Zurich, where he runs his own financial services company.

Any other way would mean that too much fuel would be burned up and the project would become very expensive. “This way it’s feasible and it’s a really good concept,” he said.

Zero gravity

The Virgin Galactic rocket, SpaceShipTwo, begins its journey with a climb to 50,000 feet (15,240 metres) under the wing of its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo.

After it is released, the shuttle’s hybrid rocket ignites, powering the craft to the 110km mark in just 90 seconds. “Then you are there without gravity for a short time. They say that you can detach your belts and float around for a bit,” von May said.

Astronauts will be able to look down onto the Earth and will also experience the eerie quietness of outer space.

“Afterwards you have re-entry and the plane will then just sail down because all the rocket engine fuel was used up in the launch. It then lands in the Mojave Desert, near San Diego in the United States,” von May explained.

The whole space experience will take just a few minutes. In total the flight will last 2.5 hours.

Apart from the founder astronauts, more than 200 individuals have booked and another 85,000 have registered an interest to fly, according to Virgin Galactic.

Flight training

Von May has already carried out flight simulation training in Philadelphia, an experience that the banker has described as “fantastic”.

The trainee astronauts had to go through 3.5Gs (3.5 times the acceleration of gravity) for 90 seconds, just as they would for the launch into space. At re-entry, they experienced 6Gs, but only for 30 seconds, which von May said was “rather tougher”.

“They told us that they had up to 88 people going through training from the founders. Only four didn’t make it through the procedure, two didn’t qualify and two stepped down because they decided it was too much for them,” he said.

“So actually everybody can do it. The oldest founder is 88 years old and the youngest is 11 years old.”

Virgin Galactic’s philosophy is that space travel should be open to everyone. All von May will need to furnish before he flies is a medical certificate stating that he is fit for the experience. A Nasa doctor will do a final check before the launch.

To boldly go…

Von May is hoping that the flight will indeed take place next year. Both WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo are still undergoing strict safety testing, which is why no deadline has yet been set.

Rutan said in 2008 the craft would be “at least as safe” as airliners in the 1920s but 100 times safer than government space travel.

Exactly when von May will get his chance will be determined by drawing lots. Only six paying passengers and two pilots fly at a time.

Von May says that he is not worried about the flight.

“I fly acrobatics, I have the licence, and I’m more nervous when I do that. Virgin Galactic has to do it in a serious way, but something can always happen. I was in Egypt and flew three hours over the water, something could have happened there,” he explained.

The banker loves the experience of flying in his plane, but the idea of going beyond that, and “boldly going” where so few people have gone before, is an exciting one.

“For me, it’s very simple. It’s going up there and looking at the Earth from above,” he explained.

“If I could afford it, I would do it like the other guys who spent $25 million to be up there for five days. I think it’s very special.”

Isobel Leybold-Johnson near Wollerau, swissinfo.ch

The final frontier

Virgin Galactic is the very first commercial spaceline. It will own and operate privately built spaceships. On May 29, it announced that the first phase of testing of the rocket motor had been completed.

The flights will initially operate from the Mojave Spaceport. Virgin Galactic will then establish its headquarters at the specially built “Spaceport America” in New Mexico. Another spaceport location will be in Sweden.

The company has said that space tourism is just the first stage. Long-haul trips could be made in spaceships instead of planes in 20 years’ time, the company president Will Whitehorn has said.

Space tourists

Sir Richard Branson, the man behind Virgin Galactic, is a British businessman who started in the music industry and works in the aviation business. He has been involved in record-breaking hot air balloon missions. He is signed up to go into space.

Other famous names include scientist Stephen Hawking and ex-racing driver Niki Lauda. Several other Swiss have also since signed up to the Virgin Galactic programme.

Several other companies are also working on commercial spaceflights.

Russia has offered space tourism, with US multimillionaire Dennis Tito becoming the first fee-paying space tourist in 2001 when he spent 7 days on the International Space Station.