With only two shuttle missions left on the horizon, Virgin Galactic is booking flights for scientists to conduct experiments in space and there are already booked seats for the first flight. Virgin Galactic’s signed contract with the Southwest Research Institute is the first such agreement to fly scientists into space (over 100 kilometers or 328,000 feet above the Earth), enabling valuable microgravity, biology, climate and astronomy research.

The first commercial endeavor of its kind will allow scientists to conduct experiments in space. Southwest Research Institute has put full deposits on two seats and has plans for an additional six seats to the tune of 1.6m. As well as flying its own researchers, who will carry scientific experiments developed by its in-house technical staff, SRI also aims to assist American researchers who do not have direct spaceflight experience to develop and fly their payloads and personnel on suborbital missions.

With only two scheduled missions left on NASA’s docket, Virgin Galactic will become a major player in research done in space. The President and CEO of Virgin Galactic said in a statement today;

“This agreement signals the enormous scientific potential of the Virgin spaceflight system. Virgin Galactic will be able to offer researchers flights to space that are unprecedented in frequency and cost. Science flights will be an important growth area for the company in the years to come, building on the strong commercial success already demonstrated by deposits received from over 400 individuals for Virgin’s space experience”

Commercial space flight will be much cheaper for companies wishing to conduct experimentation in space and will give a lot of opportunities to developers that did not exist in the past. This is an exciting opportunity for all concerned.

image courtesy of artdiamondblog.com

Related posts:

1. EA Announce Dead Space 2 DLC To Feature Dead Space Extraction Characters
2. Infinite Space Reviews Round Up
3. Dead Space 2 Not Coming Until Next Year
4. Dead Space 2 Outselling Original By 2 To 1
5. Dead Space 3 Could Happen If We All Make Enough Noise