Episode 38: January 23rd 2011: Want to be an Astronaut? Book a ticket online

Scroll to the bottom of this post to play the audio or watch the
video. Going in to space was nothing more than a dream for many of
us for such a long time. But things are changing profoundly and
fast. Once, human spaceflight was only possible as part of a
national government project. Then, a decade ago, Denis
Tito (on 28th April 2001) became the first self-funding astronaut
by signing a cheque for $20 million. Now in 2011, Spaceflight has
never been easier or cheaper. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has
now brought the price down to $200,000 for a brief suborbital
flight. Imagine spaceflight for a price less than that of a small
house in London. In the year that marks the 50th anniversary of
human spaceflight, it is about time, isn’t it? A familiar name in
the astronomical community, Nigel Henbest, a writer,
broadcaster and television producer, took a not-too-deep breath and
signed on the dotted line and is now on the road to his space
experience in the next year or two. As the private sector develops,
perhaps the commercial spaceflight market will experience the same
rapid innovation and price reduction we saw in the personal
computer market. Is it too speculative to imagine that within a few
years the price of a suborbital flight will come down, perhaps to
that of a family car? In this episode Nigel, talks about why he
wants to go in to space and the steps involved in the process of
getting there.  Nigel has written about his
flight here. To see a high-resolution image of the huge
Virgin Galactic brochure, click the image.
_________________________ This episode's quote You see things and
say why? But I dream things that never were and say why not? George
Bernard Shaw