MSNBC has a great article on Burt Rutan's latest miracle. True to form, he's calling 'em like he sees them...
SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry six passengers and two pilots into space, with enough headroom to allow for free floating. It's about twice as large as SpaceShipOne, with larger windows and reclining seats for fare-paying fliers.
More than 100 people are already in line for spaceflights, at a cost of $200,000 per person, and Rutan expects there to be thousands more: He said the innovations incorporated into SpaceShipTwo will make human spaceflight "at least as safe as the airliners of the late '20s."
One of the reporters was surprised at that: Shouldn't spaceflight ideally be as safe as commercial aviation is today?
"Don't believe anyone who tells you that the entry level for the new spaceships will be as safe as the modern airliner," Rutan responded. He noted that the fatality rate for orbital spaceflight has been 4 percent, and that he was aiming for the suborbital SpaceShipTwo to be "100 times safer."
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