Kiwis lining up to be on Virgin space flight

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post

SPACE INVADER: Head of astronaut sales at Virgin Galactic, Nelsonian Carolyn Wincer, who hopes to get a free flight as a job perk.

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Kiwis could be on Virgin Galactic's very first commercial flight into space, says Carolyn Wincer, the company's head of astronaut sales.

Of the seven New Zealanders who have signed up for the US$200,000 two-hour trip, three – including Christchurch-based rocket entrepreneur Mark Rocket and realtor Jackie Maw – are in the first 84, from which six will be selected.

The company, part of billionaire Sir Richard Branson's business empire, has begun to test its spacecraft and Ms Wincer guessed the first flight would be within the next couple of years.

About 330 people had booked a flight. New Zealand was Virgin Galactic's largest market per head head of population.

Passengers would experience about four minutes of weightlessness and must go through three days of training beforehand at a purpose-built spaceport in New Mexico, including G-force training and psychological preparation, she said.

They would be flown 110 kilometres into the atmosphere and be able to see 1000 kilometres in any direction. "It's a pretty amazing view," she said.

"In the blackness of space the stars and the planets are a lot clearer and you can see the blue line that's the atmosphere."

Virgin Galactic had spent US$400 million (NZ$470m) on the project, and ordered five spaceships and three carrier aircraft, to be delivered over a two to three-year period.

It planned to take 500 passengers into space in its first year of flights, and about 1000 a year thereafter.

The cost would likely come down over time to rival the cost of flying from the United States to Australia and as technology developed lengthier flights would be possible, she said.

Most people assumed space flights would have huge environmental impact but the carbon output from a Virgin Galactic space flight was less than that of a first-class return trip between London and New York.

Ms Wincer, from Nelson, worked for a collection of luxury retreats owned by Sir Richard before being head-hunted by Virgin Galactic.

She hoped a free trip into space would be a perk of the job.

"I can't sell it if I can't do it."

- © Fairfax NZ News