Virgin Galactic, the British spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson, has just revealed the cabin design for its spaceplane, VSS Unity. The spacecraft, which is currently in the testing phase, will take private passengers into space. And while Unity’s cabin is only digital images at this point (at least for the public), live footage from real test flights show that it’ll be full of wonderment no matter how it turns out.
Galactic posted the cabin unveil to its YouTube channel—note that the actual unveil starts around 21:40 in the video above. Branson, along with the company’s CEO, Michael Colglazier, give a rundown of the cabin, with the former noting that the cabin has been “designed specifically to allow thousands of people to achieve their dreams of spaceflight safely….”
In regards to details, one highlight of Unity’s cabin—aside from the view—will be the so-called spaceship cruise seats. Made of carbon fiber coupled with aluminum, the seats wouldn’t be out of place inside of a stylish SpaceX Dragon capsule. There are also digital displays on the seats that share cool stats like amount of g-force being felt and boost time.
Our spaceship is designed to carry astronauts but can also take payloads, or a combination of the two. This capability provides the scientific community access to high-quality microgravity, as well as to generally inaccessible regions of the upper atmosphere. pic.twitter.com/UMx6Lk0Ren
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) July 28, 2020
On top of the seats, Galactic’s Design Director, Jeremy Brown, also highlights the cabin’s 17 windows. Brown notes the series of circular windows will also have “halo edges” that maintain optimal viewing conditions for passengers. “In Zero G, the cabin effectively becomes a 360-degree climbing frame,” Brown adds.
Those who want to buy a ticket for a seat aboard a Unity flight will have to spend $250,000. Although prospective flyers can put down a deposit of $1,000 to preserve a seat on a future flight. Flights will leave from Galactic’s terminal at Spaceport America in New Mexico regularly. It’s unclear, however, when VSS unity flights with paying customers aboard will commence.
What do you think about Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane cabin? And when do you think Unity will begin flying regularly? Let’s talk about how spaceflight will be viewed henceforth in the comments!
Feature image: Virgin Galactic