“We choose to go…” (now with martian-esque juicers)

Everyone in life has dreams.

Some of them are small, some are realistic, and some are ‘out there’.

And I mean really ‘out there’…

I’ve always had a few dreams in life; one dream is to see the Earth rise over the horizon of the Moon.

That’s okay, I’ll give you a second to get the giggles out.

A therapist would probably have something to say about ultimate escapism and how it’s all related to running away, but for many many years now, the images from the Hubble space telescope (and various other space-bound probes) have filled me with such a serenity and awe that it’s difficult to put it down in to words. Galaxies and Nebulae, often rife with toxic gases, become these infinite works of art spanning light years that have come about purely as another form of life (albeit a non-sentient, life-of-a-galaxy, kind of life).

However, I do not have the same reaction when discussing space travel. Having visited Kennedy Space Center in Florida, seen the rocket technology, seen the IMAX films, seen the launch pad out at Cape Canaveral, and watched many documentaries on the lunar missions and subsequent orbital ones, I cannot help but be filled with an immense feeling of disappointment.

Regardless of anyone’s opinions on the factuality of the moon landings, there is no denying that the Space-bound future we were promised some forty years ago has yet to materialise. The end of the cold war took away the need to develop new rocket technologies (which were the primary reasons behind government funding to NASA - the space-travel was merely a commodity that could be sold to the American people to help convince the spending).

In 2008 there are no space-ports, no lunar hotels, no rocket-ships to Mars. The very idea of Mankind regaining an image of explorers, discoverers and pioneers (ala Cook, Columbus, Cortez, but in space) has really died on its arse. We haven’t had a new shuttle design in decades, the international space station is a Meccano set of technology obsolete on Earth long before it even gets launched out of our atmosphere, and the shiney-white surfaces of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey are far from reality anywhere other than the eighth floor of the Hotel Americana in Madrid. On Earth.

But I’ve always felt that the private sector would push this forward. In every true area of innovation it is always those companies willing to put the money forward without the bureaucracy that stifles efforts of governments.

I took great interest in the Ansari X-Prize, a competition designed to push the innovation in space travel forward by offering the prize of some $10m to the first private manned space flight. The competition itself was modelled on the many prizes from the early twentieth century that helped push forward the development of air flight. One of the more prominent was the $25,000 Orteig Prize that motivated Charles Lindbergh to fly solo across the atlantic. Somehow, innovation always works with the prospect of money behind it, eh?

The winner was one Burt Rutan, along with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. One of the major sponsors was a Mr Richard Branson (he might have been a Sir by then… I’m not sure).

The $10m pales now in comparison to the some $100m that has been spent on investment and development since then, and the resultant corporate entity that has emerged has already had many column inches of discussion. This week, that company unveiled it’s craft designs and the full extent of the branding.

And that’s when I really was drooling….

With a wonderful eye motif, crisp futuristic lettering and this wonderful idea of the evolution of flight, the branding really makes me feel inspired. It says The Future, it says ‘You won’t believe your eyes’, it says ‘Kubrick was right - look at this’ and ‘wow, isn’t it all full of such wonder?!’.

For a measly US$200,000 Virgin Galactic is offering passengers 3 days of intensive training at its Dan-Dare-esque training facility in New Mexico before taking a sub-orbital flight some 360,000 feet above the surface of the Earth in it’s SpaceShipTwo and WhiteNight craft, developed from the design of Rutan’s SpaceShipOne. Giving just over five minutes of zero gravity and possibly one of the best visuals known to man, this is possibly the closest I’ll get in my lifetime to reaching my dream. And my god, haven’t they made it look sexy? Take a peek at the site and the promo video that’s there. The interior of the craft are phenomenal, and totally in-keeping with what the future should be. I only hope one day, when I’m wearing one of those jump-suits, that I’ll look that good.

But what, prey tell, is all this about Martian-esque Juicers?

Well… there are very few designers (be it graphical people like me, architects, interior designers, or engineering designers) that ever make a name for themselves. One of the few is a man who has designed everything from hotel rooms to watches, spectacles to remote controls and possibly the worlds most famous ‘what the hell is that thing’ fruit juicer.

That man is somewhat of a legend in my eyes and quite wonderfully described the design of Amazon’s Kindle “A little sad” and “almost modern”. Who else could it be but Philippe Starck.

The link?

That branding for Virgin Galactic is his. :o)

Design agency Sky26 have also chipped in with some brilliant bits too, and kudos really should be thrown their way too. They came up with the wonderful Galactic Girl designs, based on Sir Richard’s daughter Eva.

Sky26 also provided the visuals for the craft.

Hell, I might even…. yep…. I will……

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Here’s some donate buttons in case you want to help with the ‘Get Lee in to Space’ fund. Go on. I only need 100,000 people to send me £1 or $2 and I’ll have a flight. I may even start up a facebook group!

Haha!