Space flights not for United Airlines empolyees

It seems that there’s a difference of opinion in how to cope with the burgeoning oil prices. Sorry to bang on about this issue but it is a bit of a current hot potato.

Virgin Galactic, that space tourism venture of mega-bucks Branson, has decided to set its sights on Russia for future business. That’s right, the man who has his own islands and.. well everything, has for some time now, been selling trips to space to the super rich and has decided that Russia, with its array of those tycoons that somehow managed to become billionaires after privatisations in a country where the poor get poorer, would be a great market for customers. Well, after all, we know Russia was desperate to get into space before, why not now too.

It seems EXTREMELY hypocritical to me to have the brass balls to front companies Virgin Earth, Virgin Green Fund and Virgin Unite and still push Virgin Galactic.

Virgin Earth, direct from their site, offer a price “for whoever can demonstrate to the judges’ satisfaction a commercially viable design which results in the removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric gases so as to contribute materially to the stability of Earth’s climate.” Did you spot the key words there? In case you didn’t they were “commercially” and “viable.” Gotta make money after all.

Hmm.. one wonders just how much fuel it takes to throw one of Virgin Galatic’s waste-of-time-money-and-resources into space for the few minutes the several million pound ticket buys you. And just what level of green house gases does such a craft create? Anybody ever watch the videos of the space shuttles taking off? Those huge rockets firing off fuel and burning up the air by the second? Well that’s just got to be something someone should work to prevent.. maybe someone like Virgin Earth! If there’s money in it.

Unfortunately, as some companies – and I will name names as I find them – continue to waste and abuse the oil and resources we have – prices continue to rise and while some Russian tycoon looks to the skies and decides that’s for him/her, many American pilots will no longer be flying as the ballooning fuel costs have lead United Airlines to axe 950 pilots.

United Airlines have had to ground 100 planes and cut 950 pilots from its work force. “As we take actions to enable United to compete in an environment of record fuel prices, we must make the difficult but necessary step to reduce the number of people we have to run our business.”

Good thing Virgin Galactic are using fuel in a sensible, economy friendly and sustainable way, just as Virgin Earth, if not the Earth need them to. Good on ya Dicky!