Virgin empire expands again
- Thread starter stormbind
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Bozo Erectus
Master Baker
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Why does clicking on the source link open a reply window? Is it just me?
Suppersalmon
Think Safely think again
Dumb pothead said:
happens to me aswell
well i know what im gonna save up for i have £10 at the moment *prepears for a long wait*
Bozo Erectus
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Glad its not just me. Are you going to save up for a Virgin, or an airplane?Suppersalmon said:
Bozo Erectus
Master Baker
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Wow. A hotel in orbit! Why doesnt Bill Gates drop a billion or two on this guy, so Branson can get it in orbit a little sooner. Oh yeah, Gates is spending billions on AIDS, sheesh, what a party pooper
Who knows. Compared to Bill Gates, Richard Branson isn't that big. He only owns about 200 companies (i.e. mobile phone vendor, insurance firm, trans-atlantic airliner, rail company, broadcaster, etc.), valued over $6bn.Dumb pothead said:Wow. A hotel in orbit! Why doesnt Bill Gates drop a billion or two on this guy, so Branson can get it in orbit a little sooner. Oh yeah, Gates is spending billions on AIDS, sheesh, what a party pooper
He seems to select his investments by their probability of making him famous, not profit potential. This makes him immune to attracting Gates' interest
Bozo Erectus
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Well, if I was Gates, Id definitely be interested in owning a piece of the worlds first orbital hotel. He could make sure the place is stocked with MS products.
Branson's will probably be stocked with Virgin Cola and lots of gimmicks. Are you getting a feel for what Sir Branson is about?Dumb pothead said:
Link: Virgin Drinks
Scuffer
Scuffer says...
Here he is with a new tilting train. He doesn't own the track thet run on or the stations they pass through. Virgin rail (Britain least reliable) is 49% owned by stagecoach, and the trains are leased from someone else. They just sell tickets. Yet he has managed to drag Blair away from some doubtless important meeting (cough cough) for a photo op.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3671680.stm
(how do you put pics in a post incidently?)
Edit: Thanks Stormbind!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3671680.stm
(how do you put pics in a post incidently?)
Edit: Thanks Stormbind!
He was also involved with saving the Flying Scotsman and stole the surrounding publicity by travelling with the driver & playing bagpipes at the station 
Chukchi Husky
Lone Wolf
Guess what radio station I'm listening to?
"The vehicle will have room for five passengers"
"Tickets to cost about £100,000, perhaps less"
Half a million per flight. How much does it cost to run a space plane?
"The vehicle will have room for five passengers"
"Tickets to cost about £100,000, perhaps less"
Half a million per flight. How much does it cost to run a space plane?
Scuffer
Scuffer says...
Just had a look to see exactly how many pies he does have fingers in. Too many for me to count. Everything from cosmetics to brides, phones and fitness clubs.
http://www.virgin.com/nodb.asp?r=true&en=424
http://www.virgin.com/nodb.asp?r=true&en=424
Dumb pothead said:Wow. A hotel in orbit! Why doesnt Bill Gates drop a billion or two on this guy, so Branson can get it in orbit a little sooner. Oh yeah, Gates is spending billions on AIDS, sheesh, what a party pooper
He could check with the Wal-Mart family, apparently they're worth ~$18 billion each at the moment, and there's five of them (numbers three through eight on the Forbes richest Americans list, if I recall correctly).
I like the nose art, because you don't normally see it on corporate-owned stuff, but couldn't find any good pics. The image varies depending on route.
Since when has Branson worried about the costs? He will probably make a loss on the venture. I reckon 75% of his enterprises do that, but he never runs out of money
He may think that having spaceships will boost the popularity of his airline companies?
Since when has Branson worried about the costs? He will probably make a loss on the venture. I reckon 75% of his enterprises do that, but he never runs out of money
He may think that having spaceships will boost the popularity of his airline companies?
G-Man
A One Man's War
I think it's a very good move. From what I understand the project will cost virgin about 100$ million in development costs. However, once that is done, they'll have a monopoly on space flights and would make a lot of money off of each ticket, so they have a very good chance of paying it back. Also, I think it's wonderful that space flights have reached such an age. If virgin is successful, or close to that, I'm sure we'll see many other companies who'll compete with it, and that can only do good things to space technology and to science.
Bozo Erectus
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Ive got one of his Virgin Mobile phones. Branson sounds like a modern day Howard Hughes on steroids. More power to him
If more of these obcenely wealthy people did usefel things like this with their money, the world could be a much cooler place.
@Igloo, Wal Mart in space??? Oh dear! (runs and hides behind The Robot) That was my Dr. Smith impression
If more of these obcenely wealthy people did usefel things like this with their money, the world could be a much cooler place. @Igloo, Wal Mart in space??? Oh dear! (runs and hides behind The Robot) That was my Dr. Smith impression
A couple of comments. Bill Gates may not be involved but Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen is. He is backing Burt Ratan the guy who designed and built space ship one. Also Branson will not have a monopoly on this. There are about 20 odd companies on the heels of Burt Ratan in building their space ships.
My favorite,Team Armadillo, has done some very serious test flights and are about 6 to 12 months behind scaled composites (burt Ratan) on their vehical. Check out their site at http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News They show movie clips of their sucesses and failures over the past three years.
There are also other plans by a other companies to build the hotels. Check out Bigelow Aerospace at http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/cs.html They are building an inflatable hotel and will be launching it in about 2007 if their testing dates hold out.
My favorite,Team Armadillo, has done some very serious test flights and are about 6 to 12 months behind scaled composites (burt Ratan) on their vehical. Check out their site at http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News They show movie clips of their sucesses and failures over the past three years.
There are also other plans by a other companies to build the hotels. Check out Bigelow Aerospace at http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/cs.html They are building an inflatable hotel and will be launching it in about 2007 if their testing dates hold out.
Creepster, there are many organisations competing for the X-Prize. Virgin is not one of them.
Virgin is betting that SpaceshipOne has already won, and is therefore using that platform for their fleet of spaceships, in the same way that they use Boeing 747 for their international flights. Virgin have no aerospace development, they just buy stuff they like.
Virgin is betting that SpaceshipOne has already won, and is therefore using that platform for their fleet of spaceships, in the same way that they use Boeing 747 for their international flights. Virgin have no aerospace development, they just buy stuff they like.
Scuffer
Scuffer says...
And save millions on marketing by having Branson big grin everywhere. He must have fondled every mode of transport going. Fair enough, he seems a decent bloke.
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