One: Training and Flight Experience

The Training & Flight Experience

The day-by-day outline that follows is a guide as to what you might expect based on the information we currently have. Please be aware that all
details are subject to change for operational and regulatory reasons.

T-Minus 3 Days

Astronauts will be met by the Virgin Galactic team and checked-in to the Astronaut Hotel. Tonight they will relax in the company of their flight
crew and fellow passengers, before enjoying a good night's sleep in preparation for the hectic days ahead.

T-Minus 2 Days

A healthy breakfast will be served that they may well take with the previous six astronauts who will have completed their flight the day before,
so this is a great opportunity to ask lots of questions to astronauts who already have their wings!

We will collect the six astronauts early in the morning and take them to the Spaceport medical and training centre. Here they will meet their
pilots, training and medical teams who will spend the next three days with them. They will go through a medical review to check there have
been no significant changes since their preliminary Virgin Galactic medical. This will also be briefing time to review the training program for
the next three days.

Following this will be the spacesuit fitting. They will be shown how to operate their helmets, briefed on what protection their suits offer and
so forth. They will then be taken to SpaceShipTwo where they will be taken through flight safety procedures and practice getting in and out
of their seats with the spacesuits and helmets on. Their pilots will also talk them through all aspects of the flight, including what will be
going on in the cockpit, what radio communications they will hear, instructions they will receive and so on.

"Now into the suit: first the feet struggling with the turns and twists of the nylon inner liner; then jack-knifing torso over double to get arms far enough into place to slip head into the neck ring; then standing and zipping up the back, with help. Next, tight, tight gloves are wormed on and snapped into wrist rings. Then the helmet gently, almost reverently lowered onto the neck ring until satisfied with the alignment, it is brutally shoved downward, locks snapping and clicking into place. The transition into space begins when the visor is lowered and locked. From now on no air will be breathed, only pure oxygen; no human voice will be heard, unless electronically piped in. Through the barrier of the suit, the world can still be seen, but that is all - not smelled, or heard, or felt, or tasted..." - Michael Collins describing suiting up for his Gemini X orbital flight in 1966. (Ours will be a lot simpler and more comfortable!)

After a brief lunch they will continue with flight training. This could involve time replicating the launch g-force profile on the ground or in the air, in specialist aircraft.

Once back at the Astronaut Hotel, after a hard day's space training astronauts will be able to watch videos of their g-force training and prepare themselves for the next day's training.

The Hotel will serve a healthy dinner and in the company of the pilots and crew the astronauts may deliberate more on the experience they still have to come. There may also be talks on the flight itself, or perhaps a brief lesson in astronomy for those wanting to know more about our place in the universe.

T-Minus 1 Day

This morning will start with more flight acclimatisation and safety briefings. Astronauts will be continually briefed on the risks of space flight throughout their training. Once this information process is complete, astronauts will be asked to consent to the spaceflight and sign a waiver of responsibility for the risks inherent in spaceflight from Virgin Galactic. This is a requirement of the FAA and completes the regulation process to enable each astronaut to take up their seat.

In addition to training for the high G portions of the flight, astronauts may need to train for the zero-gravity. They may practice floating and control techniques underwater or through parabolic flight.

Following this they will return to the Spaceport for a final run-down of how the whole flight will progress. This will be a chance for them to ask any final questions they have.

The evening before flight day will be a special event at the Astronaut Hotel, where a special dinner will be prepared to celebrate their last night as Astronauts in waiting. They may relax in the spa or take time out to contemplate the day ahead before the festivities begin. However the festivities will finish early enough for everyone to get plenty of sleep! And if they can't sleep due to all of the excitement, they can always jump into the pool to attempt some more zero-G acclimatisation!

Take Off Day

"Inevitably, as the big moment approaches, its arrival is announced by the traditional backward count toward zero. Anaesthetists and launch directors share this penchant for scaring people, for increasing the drama surrounding and event which already carries sufficient trauma to command one's entire consciousness. Why don't they just hire a husky-voiced honey to whisper, "Sleep, my sweet" or "It's time to go, baby"? Be that as it may, my adrenalin pump is working fine as the monster springs to life. At nine seconds before lift-off, the five huge first-stage engines leisurely ignite, their thrust level is systematically raised to full power, and the hold-down clamps are released at T-zero. We're off! And do we know it, not just because the world is yelling "Lift-off" in our ears, but because the seats of our pants tell us so!" - Michael Collins describing the lead up to launch during the Apollo 1 1 mission.

After a pre-flight breakfast at the hotel, the astronauts will travel to the spaceport for a final medical check. They will be given a mission briefing before suiting-up. There will now be time for some formal photos with their fellow astronauts and loved ones. This will be a last chance opportunity for them to use the bathroom!

Family and friends will proceed to the viewing area where they will watch the astronauts saunter out to the spaceship with all the confidence they have built up from the training program. There will also be a live hook-up to VSS Enterprise so that family and friends can share the whole fight experience and every minute on board will be recorded and given to the astronauts on a special DVD.

The pilots will seat the astronauts in VSS Enterprise which will be fuelled and ready to go underneath WhiteKnightTwo. Flight take-off protocols will then begin. The doors will close and the engines will power up. With SpaceShipTwo safely secured under its belly, WhiteKnightTwo will gather speed down the runway before a smooth and spectacular take-off. WhiteKnightTwo will climb in wide spirals for the next hour whilst the astronauts are free to walk around the cabin to enjoy and photograph the views that will become more and more spectacular as the aircraft continually gains altitude.

As they approach 50,000 feet the crew will ask the astronauts to return to their seats and prepare for launch. They will pull down their visors and fasten their seatbelts. After final safety checks the pilots will begin the countdown for release. The first of many amazing sensations will be their stomachs lurching as WhiteKnightTwo releases SpaceShipTwo and the spaceship freefalls into a glide. The astronauts will brace themselves for launch.

Mission control will commence countdown for the firing of the rocket engine. When this happens everything will change in a split second. The engine will create tremendous noise and 3.5 G's will push the astronauts back and down into their seats virtually instantaneously. In less than 10 seconds they will break the sound barrier whilst the rocket engine propels them out of the atmosphere, reaching a speed of over Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound!). After 90 seconds the rocket engine cuts out and if the astronauts glance out of the windows as the rocket is coasting to apogee they will see the sky go from deep blue, to indigo, to black. It will be like nothing they have ever experienced before.

The pilots will tell them they are free to unbuckle their seatbelts and float freely about the cabin. For the next four minutes or so they will marvel at the feeling of weightlessness. They will be awed by the total silence and the utter blackness that surrounds them. They will view Earth as alone in the vastness of space, shielded only by a thin and fragile atmosphere. Perhaps for the first time they will truly appreciate how unique and vulnerable we are.

The view will be 1,000 miles in any direction. As they look at the blue line of the atmosphere that protects the home of every known living creature in our universe, the astronauts may remember that machines are emitting chemicals that harm Earth and people are cutting down trees faster than they can be replanted. They may realise that this beautiful and utterly unique thin blue line is all that keeps every living thing alive, yet we seem to be doing all we can to destroy it.

It will perhaps be the richest four minutes of their lives. They will remember every second so it may feel like a lifetime.

All this time gravity will be gently pulling SpaceShipTwo back to Earth. As the time for re-entry draws closer, the pilots will tell the astronauts to assume the re-entry position they practiced in their training. The pilots will have already activated the wing feathering mechanism in preparation for re-entry and will also assume their re-entry positions as they are not required to perform any further duties until after SpaceShipTwo has re-entered the atmosphere.

During the next 90 seconds G-forces will gradually build from zero to a brief peak at 6Gs, before easing back to Earth Gravity. Instead of being pushed back and down into their seats like they were during launch, the astronauts will be reclined and feel the G-forces pushing them down into the floor of the spacecraft. The seats will be specially designed to make this as comfortable as possible.

The astronauts will feel they are back within our atmosphere as they will hear it rushing past the spaceship and feel it like normal turbulence. Then, at around 70,000 feet, the pilots will get back to work as they de-feather the wings before commencing the slow, spiralling glide back to earth. At this altitude it will still feel like space although the astronauts will know by the changing colours out of the windows, the feeling of normal G's on their bodies and the views of Earth getting closer and closer that they are nearly home. The next 30-minutes, as they glide back to the Spaceport, will be a time for contemplation and celebration. They will be free to move about the cabin to talk to each other, to take more pictures or to just find a quiet seat where they can sit and begin to make sense of all they have experienced.

After a smooth landing, a debrief, and some much needed personal time to absorb their achievement the astronauts will be greeted by loved ones. There will be champagne, photos and the presentation of Virgin Galactic Astronaut Wings by the pilots. After the celebrations they will return to the hotel for some much needed rest.

That night the Astronaut Hotel will throw a Virgin Galactic Splashdown Party for the astronauts and their guests. Now they can finally they can eat and drink to their hearts' content and stay awake as long as they wish! They will also be able to view all of the video footage of the past few days, including of course, a complete record of the spaceflight.

T Plus 1 Day

Unfortunately it is time to get back to reality! After a special post-flight breakfast where the astronauts may meet the next crew who have just arrived for their training, they will bid their fellow astronauts farewell and make their way home armed with their personalised DVD, plenty of photos and proudly wearing their astronaut wings for all to see!