Last night as usual I was reading up on news within the aviation industry and page by page growing sleepy until something caught my eye. Virgin Galactic. No, it’s not a new brand of Cola but an absolutely amazing service starting in 2009. The official website says:

“Virgin Galactic is the world’s first spaceline. Giving you the groundbreaking opportunity to become one of the first ever non-professional astronauts. Virgin Galactic will own and operate its privately built spaceships, modelled on the remarkable, history-making SpaceShipOne.”

The Virgin Galactic spaceship

At first I thought Virgin must be pulling my leg but it all seems to be legitimate. The aircrafts - sorry spaceships are being built by Burt Rutan (a well known name within the industry, he’s also on TED). However, as of yet they have not provided much information on job opportunities. Would the aircraft be manned or unmanned? How many crew members will it require? As for fitness I’m speculating the requirements for the position of pilot would be higher than the CAA’s class 1 certificate. I’ve requested some clarification from Virgin about this. After all, like NASA they may only employ ex-airforce personnelle.

Whilst browsing TED I came across a presentation by Burt Rutan. He talks about some very interesting opportunities that are opening up in the space industry. Check it out below.