Space Odyssey

Billionaire Richard Branson and aerospace designer Burt Rutan have unveiled their model for the world's first tourist spaceship, which they plan to put on trial later this year. Branson's Virgin Galactic company aims to have the craft, SpaceShipTwo, pressed into full service for fare-paying passengers as soon as next year, for $200,000 a ticket. NEWSWEEK asked former NASA engineer and "Rocket Boys" author Homer Hickam about the final frontier for tourism--and whether those brave first passengers will likely need the return portion of their tickets. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: How big a deal is SpaceShipTwo?
Homer Hickam: We'll see. It could be the DC-3 of space or it might be the DC-1. [The less-than-successful DC-1 paved the way for the DC-3, which revolutionized air travel.] A hop into the lower regions of space isn't like going into earth orbit for an extended time. It should be an exciting ride with a brief, though marvelous view, but I personally would want a little more time to contemplate our planet and the stars. Still, it may be the only game in town for private space travelers since it looks like the Russians are going to get out of the space-tourist business in favor of flying NASA astronauts, who will soon lack the ability to go on an American ship. [The space-shuttle program is set to end in 2010.]

What will it do?
It will accomplish about what the first Mercury-Redstone flights did in the 1950s and 1960s, an up and down parabolic flight about 62 miles high with some minutes of weightlessness.

How safe is this thing?
It should be very safe. There really isn't much in the way of unproven technology about it with the exception of the composite materials used for its construction. No one knows how these materials will hold up over many flights, but computer models look good.

Would you go on it, given the chance?
I might, except I think my publisher would be pretty unhappy. I'm under contract to write four more novels over the next five years so I don't think they'd like for me to leave the planet.

How does it work?
Like the old Air Force X-15 of the 1960s, SpaceShipTwo will be carried aloft attached by another aircraft, known as WhiteKnight Two, then released. Its single-engine rocket ignites, and up it goes. After the rocket burns out, it keeps coasting until a special wing deploys, and down it comes waffling in the air like a badminton shuttlecock. That design is pretty neat.