Nambia
Ten consultants throughout the country have been handpicked to help make the dream of going into space a reality for New Zealanders. They have attended training to learn all about the experience onboard to become experts on G-force, weightlessness and the spacecraft’s construction.
Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group, said:
“It’s very exciting; it makes space travel immediately more accessible for Kiwis, who will now be able to simply contact House of Travel (and Adventure) to purchase a Virgin Galactic ticket into space. They may even find themselves being flown into space by Virgin Blue or Virgin Atlantic pilots, who are currently training to fly the Virgin Galactic spacecraft."
Virgin Galactic is a company established by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group to undertake the challenge of developing space tourism for everybody. It will own and operate privately built spaceships, modeled on the history-making SpaceShipOne craft. These spaceships will allow private sub-orbital space tourism for the first time in our history. Virgin Galactic will run as a business with the primary purpose of making space travel more and more affordable to people throughout the world. They will reinvest funds made over the first few years back into the business, striving constantly to lower prices.
The ExperienceAfter three days of training, passengers will board the spaceship attached to a purpose-built carrier aircraft, which will take one hour to climb to 50,000 feet where it will be close to the edges of the Earth’s atmosphere.
From here the spaceship will be released from the carrier aircraft and climb vertically, reaching the speed of sound in less than 10 seconds and three times the speed of sound in under 30 seconds.
Travelling at around 2,500 miles an hour, the astronauts will be pushed back into their seats by the acceleration G-forces as they head for a maximum altitude of more than 360,000 feet above the earth’s surface.
At the point the rocket motor cuts out, the astronauts will experience the silence of space and magical feeling of weightlessness. They will be able to see the curvature of the Earth and for 1,000 miles in any direction. They will also see the atmosphere protecting the Earth. They will experience around four minutes of weightlessness before the spacecraft returns to Earth, passing back through the atmosphere.
Key links
Looking for more information? We could suggest:
- Wikipedia Travel
- Safe Traveller
- World Events Guide
- Seat Guru
- Christchurch Airport
- Auckland Airport
- Wellington Airport
- USA ESTA Visa
- Cash Passport
- New Zealand Customs
- Duty Free
- Liquids, Aerosols and Gels
- Visa Information
- Worldwide trains
- Europe rail timetable
- Currency Conversion
- Worldwide Weather
- Travel Insurance
- Travel Magazine
- Photo Safaris
-
Vaccinations
Recommended
Dunes, Deltas and Fall’s
This is the ultimate south western Africa expedition encompassing the wildlife, culture and scenery of this fascinating region. This 21 day tour starts in Livingstone Zambia and ends in Capetown. Highlights include game drives, the world’s highest sand dunes and bush walking in the Kalahari, wilderness camping, canoeing in the Okavango Delta and visiting the mighty Victoria Fall’s. Adventurous options abound with the chance to white water raft and bungee jump.
- 21 days from NZD $2,609
- Overland Journey
Contact us Now
- Telephone 0800 269 000
Classic Luxury Mobile Safari
This Luxury Mobile Safari commences in Windhoek with its lingering heritage of German architecture, activities and atmosphere is a city that can visited through out the year. Travel to the Africat Foundation a non-profit organization committed to the long term conservation and preservation of Namibia’s large carnivores, especially cheetahs and leopards. Then enjoy the games drives in the Etosha National Park while staying at the exclusive camp on a private concession. This luxury tour also offers a morning Marine Boat cruise to experience the local bird life and maybe even the chance to see two of the dolphin species and leatherback turtles that inhabit this area of the Namibian Coast.
- 6 nights from NZD $5,230
- Luxury Mobile Safari
Contact us Now
- Telephone 0800 269 000
Wilderness Safaris Luxury Fly-Ins
An experience for the soul - fly-in to spectacular wildlife reserves and pristine wilderness areas. Track the endangered black rhino on foot in Damaraland, climb the red dunes of Sossusvlei and observe the wildlife of Etosha right in front of your camp.