الرئيسية
SEATTLE (AP) — The tycoons of cyberspace are looking to bankroll
America's resurgence in outer space, reviving "Star Trek" dreams that
first interested them in science.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen
made the latest step Tuesday, unveiling plans for a new commercial
spaceship that, instead of blasting off a launch pad, would be carried
high into the atmosphere by the widest plane ever built before it fires
its rockets.
He joins Silicon Valley powerhouses Elon Musk of
PayPal and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com Inc. in a new private space race
that attempts to fill the gap left when the U.S. government ended the
space shuttle program.
Musk, whose Space Exploration Technologies
will send its Dragon capsule to dock with the International Space
Station in February, will provide the capsule and booster rocket for
Allen's venture, which is called Stratolaunch. Bezos is building a rival
private spaceship.
Allen is working with aerospace pioneer Burt
Rutan, who collaborated with the tycoon in 2004 to win a $10 million
prize for the first flight of a private spaceship that went into space
but not orbit.
Allen says his enormous airplane and spaceship system will go to "the next big step: a private orbital space platform business."
The
new system is "a radical change" in how people can get to space, and it
will "keep America at the forefront of space exploration," Allen said.
Their
plane will have a 380-foot (116-meter) wingspan — longer than a
football field and wider than the biggest aircraft ever, Howard Hughes'
Spruce Goose.
It will launch a space capsule equipped with a
booster rocket, which will send the spacecraft into orbit. This method
saves money by not using rocket fuel to get off the ground. The
spaceship may hold as many as six people.
"When I was growing up,
America's space program was the symbol of aspiration," said Allen, who
mentioned his love of science fiction and early human spaceflights. "For
me, the fascination with space never ended. I never stopped dreaming
what might be possible."
America's resurgence in outer space, reviving "Star Trek" dreams that
first interested them in science.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen
made the latest step Tuesday, unveiling plans for a new commercial
spaceship that, instead of blasting off a launch pad, would be carried
high into the atmosphere by the widest plane ever built before it fires
its rockets.
He joins Silicon Valley powerhouses Elon Musk of
PayPal and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com Inc. in a new private space race
that attempts to fill the gap left when the U.S. government ended the
space shuttle program.
Musk, whose Space Exploration Technologies
will send its Dragon capsule to dock with the International Space
Station in February, will provide the capsule and booster rocket for
Allen's venture, which is called Stratolaunch. Bezos is building a rival
private spaceship.
Allen is working with aerospace pioneer Burt
Rutan, who collaborated with the tycoon in 2004 to win a $10 million
prize for the first flight of a private spaceship that went into space
but not orbit.
Allen says his enormous airplane and spaceship system will go to "the next big step: a private orbital space platform business."
The
new system is "a radical change" in how people can get to space, and it
will "keep America at the forefront of space exploration," Allen said.
Their
plane will have a 380-foot (116-meter) wingspan — longer than a
football field and wider than the biggest aircraft ever, Howard Hughes'
Spruce Goose.
It will launch a space capsule equipped with a
booster rocket, which will send the spacecraft into orbit. This method
saves money by not using rocket fuel to get off the ground. The
spaceship may hold as many as six people.
"When I was growing up,
America's space program was the symbol of aspiration," said Allen, who
mentioned his love of science fiction and early human spaceflights. "For
me, the fascination with space never ended. I never stopped dreaming
what might be possible."