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Sydney Travel Agent goes Galactic
Harvey World Travel offices in Mosman and Manly owned by Gil MacLachlan’s Travel Media Group have become some of the first travel agencies in the world to sell tickets to space on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic flights.
With fares at $260,000, space at a premium for the three hour space trek and Virgin Galactic planning to launch its sub-orbital space flights late in 2008, Gil McLachlan said a number of Australians had already signed up and he was confident there were many more adventurous, cashed-up Sydneysiders keen to join the flight of a lifetime, adding, “We’re now taking bookings and we’re confident we’ll sell quite a few tickets for the early flights.
The suborbital craft will blast six passengers and two pilots 100km above the earth, more than seven times higher than conventional planes, enabling passengers to see the earth’s curvature through extra large windows while experiencing moments of weightlessness.
Gil added, “The spacecraft will be released from a futuristic mother ship at 50,000 feet and at that point it will accelerate under its own power to more than 2000 feet per second and an altitude of 350,000 feet before shutting down to allow passengers to enjoy the sensation of weightlessness in the utter silence of space with mother earth glowing below”.
“Re-entry is expected to be something of an anti-climax with a slow, feathered return to terra firma and none of the heat problems suffered by the space shuttle.”
Flights will take off from Mojave in the US desert until a $US220 million space port is completed in New Mexico for takeoffs from 2011 on, with Richard Branson and his two children joining the first departure.
The $260,000 intergalactic ticket includes three days of space training prior to the flight on one of Branson’s five space ships.
Prospective passengers can register their interest by phoning (02) 9977 2055 or emailing [email protected]
The Mole wonders what the commission levels will be like???
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