Treonauts Want To Go Galactic

I was born but a few days after man first set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969 and I guess that there must have been something in the air at the time (no pun intended) which contributed to my later passion for ‘futuristic’ endeavours.

I don’t recall the thought of becoming an astronaut ever being on my list of things that “I would like to become when I grow up” but fate nonetheless worked its mysterious ways to bring you the Treonaut that I am today.  Evidently there was a connection and I just needed to find it or perhaps it found me.

Like many, I was absolutely enthralled in October last year when SpaceShipOne became the first private manned spacecraft to go into space (exceeding an altitude of 328,000 feet) twice within a 14 day period thus claiming the $10 million Ansari X-Prize – a mere 8 years after the prize’s founding.  For me this achievement represented nothing less than pure human vision, passion and commitment at its best.

SpaceShipOne however is not just about winning the Ansari X-Prize but about something altogether much greater.  Namely, the opening of space tourism (a ton of sun and great views) and the eventual human colonisation of space (Columbus would be proud). 

Thanks to the ongoing collaboration between Sir Richard Branson, Founder & Chairman of the Virgin Group, and Burt Rutan, founder of Scaled Composites and chief designer of SpaceShipOne’s technology, the development of the world’s first commercial passenger spacecraft by their jointly owned The Spaceship Company is already under way and there’s little doubt that plans for space hotels to host these passengers will not be too far behind.

Virgin Galactic is the ‘spaceline’ company launched by Branson that plans to begin these tourist spaceflights as early as 2008.  Although the spaceline is already taking reservations and deposit commitments for the first year of operations, the early future space tourists will nevertheless need to be able to afford the $200,000 ticket price and the minimum $20,000 deposit to secure their spaceship seat.

I absolutely want to be among one of these future space tourists and have therefore already signed up at Virgin Galactic’s site to get one of the first tickets – along with probably tens of thousands others who also dream of going into space.  However, since nobody has yet come chasing me for my deposit (which I don’t currently have) I guess that my seat is not yet assured…

Evidently I might need a helping hand from my fellow Treonauts (no, I don’t mean cash) to convince Virgin Galactic that getting this Treonaut a ticket to board is an absolutely terrific idea and should be a top priority.  Perhaps you could send the spaceline an email asking them to please consider sending a Treonaut into space (where some would argue he belongs).  Also, please let me know if you might be considering to be among my fellow passengers so that we can coordinate the dates.

BTW: Do you think that I would need to load up a movie on my SD card for this flight?  Yeah, I didn’t think so either…

Virgin Galactic
Scaled Composites
Ansari X-Prize
AOL Ansari X-Prize Mission Control (if you haven’t already seen SpaceShipOne’s winning flight this is a must see video)
US Okays Virgin Galactic Spaceship Plans [Space.com]
Apollo 11 Mission [Wikipedia]

Treonauts are always exploring new frontiers…