Topic: To the MOON Alice.

[Nemesis]

The subject is a little exaggerated but still this is an interesting development on the way to the moon.

Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites to develop orbital version of tourist spacecraft

Orbital vehicle SpaceShipThree (SS3) will be developed by space tourism company Virgin Galactic and Mojave-based SpaceShipTwo (SS2)-developer Scaled Composites, if the planned SS2 suborbitalservice is successful, says Virgin Galactic president Will White­horn.

SpaceShipThree is planned for Scaled’s tier 2 manned space programme, while the nine-person SpaceShipTwo is part of the current tier 1b programme.

Link to full article

[Nemesis]

On a related note - SpaceX

Performance Capabilities
SpaceX is capable of launching from Vandenberg, Kodiak Island, Cape Canaveral, Wallops Island and the US Marshall Islands (for near equatorial orbits), which allows us to place your spacecraft at any inclination and altitude, including escape velocity:

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        Launch Manifest
Customer                            Launch Date Vehicle Departure Point
US Defense Dept (DARPA) Q3 2005 Falcon I Marshall Islands
US Defense Dept (OSD/NRL) Q4 2005        Falcon I Vandenberg
Malaysia (ATSB)                 Q1 2006        Falcon I Marshall Islands
Bigelow Aerospace               Q4 2006      Falcon V       Vandenberg
US Air Force                            $100 million contract  through 2010 Falcon I

               
* Numbers down rated prior to completion of testing. Final performance numbers expected to be higher.


For contracts completed in 2005, Falcon I is offered for $5.9 million and Falcon V for $15.8 million plus modest range fees that vary by launch location. A half bay flight of Falcon V will be available at $8.9 million to accommodate customers with payloads in between Falcon I and V.