SELF on the Road 2017 - Day 5

On Tuesday, SELF Fellows visited The Spaceship Company located near the Mojave Air and Space Port. The Spaceship Company is a Virgin Galactic company. We were given a tour of the facility and had many questions answered by Steve Ericson, a KU Aerospace Engineering graduate and current Aerospace Engineering Advisory Board member. We also met with president Doug Shane who is also a KU Aerospace Engineering graduate. During our tour we were able to see a WhiteKnightTwo aircraft and a SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle. When The Spaceship Company begins commercial flights, passengers will be taken into space where they will experience weightlessness for a few minutes before returning to the Earth. The Spaceship Company is giving the public an opportunity to experience space, something that has previously only been experienced by less than 600 astronauts. We were able to watch a flight simulation where the suborbital vehicle was detached from the aircraft and flown up into space then landed back at the airport.  After our visit to The Spaceship Company some fellows went to Koreatown and Chinatown followed by a visit to Venice Beach.