michael najjar meets richard branson
in 2011 michael najjar has signed a contract with richard branson´s virgin galactic and is now part of that exclusive group of pioneer astronauts, the first to fly into space as soon as virgin galactic starts operations.
michael and sir richard branson met in october 2011 on the occasion of the opening of "spaceport america" in the desert of new mexico, usa.
the virgin galactic gateway to space, a combined terminal and hangar facility, will support up to two WhiteKnightTwo and five SpaceShipTwo vehicles. in addition, the gateway will house all of the company's astronaut preparation and celebration facilities, a mission control center, and a friends and family area.
the iconic 120,000 square-foot building, was designed by world-renowned united kingdom-based foster + partners, along with urs corporation and local new mexico archi-tects smpc. the trio won an international competition in 2007 to build the first private spaceport in the world.
the new spaceship (SpaceshipTwo, VSS Enterprise) and carrier craft (WhiteKnightTwo, VMS Eve) have both been developed for virgin galactic by Mojave-based scaled composites. founded by burt rutan, Scaled developed SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 claimed the $10m Ansari X Prize as the world's first privately developed manned spacecraft. virgin galactic's new vehicles share much of the same basic design, but are being built to carry six customers, or the equivalent scientific research payload, on sub-orbital space flights, allowing an out-of-the-seat, zero-gravity experience and offering astounding views of the planet from the black sky of space.
michael´s spaceflight is scheduled for 2013 and will be a centerpiece of the "outer space" work series.