AR Enabled Mobile App, Launched After Live
Online Event, Brings Cabin and Spaceflight Experience Alive for
Space Enthusiasts Everywhere.
Cabin design driven by astronaut experience:
- Individually sized, reclining seats for G-force management and
float zone volume;
- Automated mood lighting harmonizes with each flight phase;
- Personal seat back screens connect astronauts to live flight
data;
- Cabin architecture facilitates effortless movement in
weightlessness;
- 16 cameras provide high definition footage and stills;
- 12 cabin windows for astronauts to gaze at Earth from;
- Largest mirror in a spaceship cabin – mirror reflects the
real-time astronaut experience.
Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“Virgin Galactic”
or “the Company”), a vertically integrated aerospace and space
travel company, today revealed the cabin interior of its first
SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity in a virtual event streamed live on
YouTube.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200728005848/en/
Aspiring astronauts and space enthusiasts around the world, now
have the opportunity to explore the Virgin Galactic cabin design
and spaceflight experience through an augmented reality enabled
mobile app, which launches after the live event, and is available
to download for free at both the App Store and Play Store.
One of the defining hallmarks of the Virgin brand over 50 years,
has been the use of inspired and bold design to transform the
customer experience. It’s an ethos that has been successfully
applied across industrial sectors and design disciplines: from
aircraft cabins and hotel bedrooms to fitness classes and personal
banking.
Virgin Galactic, in collaboration with London design agency,
Seymourpowell, has striven to remain faithful to that tradition by
developing an elegant but progressive, experience-focused concept
for the cabin of its spaceship. While it has been created to
integrate seamlessly with every other aspect of the Virgin Galactic
astronaut journey – the cabin is also the design centrepiece;
providing safety without distraction, quietly absorbing periods of
sensory intensity and offering each astronaut a level of intimacy
required for personal discovery and transformation.
The textures, colours and structures within the cabin create an
elegance, underlined by purpose which will inspire a sense of
confidence in astronauts from the moment they board the spaceship
on the day of flight.
Individually sized seats, created using the highest-grade
aluminium and carbon-fiber manufacturing techniques, reinforce this
sense. The importance of astronaut comfort to optimize performance
is accentuated by the use of engineered foam and technical fabrics.
Virgin Galactic’s partner Under Armour developed the astronaut
spacesuits and also the fabric technology featured in the cabin
seats. Harnessing insights from more than two decades of maximizing
human performance, Under Armour created a 3D knit featuring
constructions that map breathability and function into the fabric
encasing each cabin seat to provide comfort and mobility during
spaceflight.
The color palette of the cabin has been carefully curated so
that it complements the architecture of the seat, the cabin itself
and spacesuits. The golden metallics resemble luminous desert
sands, blues conjure celestial spaces and teals inspired by the
ocean ground travelers back to Earth.
Each seat has been engineered to match the dynamism of the
flight. A pilot-controlled recline mechanism, optimally positions
astronauts to manage G- forces on boost and re-entry and frees up
cabin space to maximize an unrestricted astronaut float zone when
in zero gravity.
Virgin pioneered mood lighting on its commercial aircraft, and
that idea has been translated by Virgin Galactic, into the new era
of commercial spaceflight. Multi-color LEDs are concealed within
the “Halo” window surrounds and are used to subtly reflect back and
therefore elevate, the human responses to each of the contrasting
stages of flight. At the pinnacle of the experience, as the Earth
comes into view against the black sky of space, all lighting is
extinguished, bringing an instant focus to the profoundly beautiful
vista.
Following in the footsteps of another Virgin first, seatback
screens provide digital flight data to connect each astronaut to
the flight deck. Personal, integrated communication systems
complement the screens with a direct connection for each astronaut
to the two space pilots.
SpaceShipTwo’s cabin was deliberately sized to
allow for an out-of-seat weightlessness experience for the
astronauts on board. The interior design focusses on this critical
part of the experience. Soft cabin surfaces and elements become
intuitive hand and footholds, allowing astronauts to explore the
cabin freely and fully. The “Halo” surrounds to twelve large
windows have soft extended edges, which allow astronauts to
perfectly position themselves for 360 degrees of awe-inspiring
views, from the infinity of outer space to the beauty of our home
planet.
Virgin Galactic’s current community of 600 Future Astronauts has
always been clear that having photos and videos of their
spaceflight experience to share, is of paramount importance. The
output from 16 cabin cameras, plus those in the cockpit and mounted
externally, will generate high definition output to provide
everything from the first Instagram posts, to a beautifully edited
and historically significant personal movie.
To further elevate the experience of floating in zero-gravity,
the cabin includes a first for space travel, a large, circular
mirror on the aft bulkhead which, by adding a tint to the
reflective surface, allows astronauts to view themselves weightless
while illuminated by the natural brightness of the Earth.
Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic said: “In just my
second week as Virgin Galactic’s CEO, it is with great pride that I
can lead our talented teams in revealing this latest milestone in
our journey to space. The spaceship cabin interior is in many ways
the design centrepiece of the astronaut journey and what has been
created will both facilitate and elevate a uniquely profound and
transformational journey for the thousands who will fly. The
fascination with spaceflight is universal and Virgin Galactic is
here to satisfy it. We are particularly proud to be able to share
this latest milestone with millions around the world, particularly
during these unusual times. We hope the new app, with cutting-edge
AR technology will help bring the dream of space one step closer
for space enthusiasts everywhere.”
Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group said: ‘’When we created
Virgin Galactic, we started with what we believed would be an
optimal customer experience and then built the spaceship around it.
We will continue with that ethos as we expand our fleet, build our
operations and underpin Virgin Galactic’s position as the Spaceline
for Earth. This cabin has been designed specifically to allow
thousands of people like you and me to achieve the dream of
spaceflight safely – and that is incredibly exciting.’’
Aspiring astronauts can bring their dream of spaceflight one
step closer by joining the Virgin Galactic Spacefarer community
today. For a $1,000 refundable deposit, they will be front of line
for newly released spaceflight reservations. More information can
be found, www.virgingalactic.com/smallstep/
Designed by:
Virgin Galactic in collaboration with Seymourpowell,
London
https://www.seymourpowell.com/
You can download all press materials including images and
broll from the Virgin Galactic Press FTP.
About Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a vertically-integrated aerospace and space
travel company, pioneering human spaceflight for private
individuals and researchers, as well as a manufacturer of advanced
air and space vehicles. Using its proprietary and reusable
technologies and supported by a distinctive, Virgin-branded
customer experience, it is developing a spaceflight system designed
to offer customers a unique, multi-day, transformative experience.
This culminates in a spaceflight that includes views of Earth from
space and several minutes of weightlessness that will launch from
Spaceport America, New Mexico. Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship
Company believe that one of the most exciting and significant
opportunities of our time lies in the commercial exploration of
space and the development of technology that will change the way we
travel across the globe in the future. Together we are opening
access to space to change the world for good.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of federal securities laws with respect to
Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”), including
statements regarding the Company’s spaceflight systems, markets and
expected performance. These forward-looking statements generally
are identified by words such as “believe,” “project,” “expect,”
“anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,”
“opportunity,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” and
similar expressions. Forward looking statements are predictions,
projections and other statements about future events that are based
on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are
subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual
future events to differ materially from the forward-looking
statements in this presentation, including but not limited to the
factors, risks and uncertainties regarding the Company’s business
described in the documents filed by the Company from time to time
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). These
filings identify and address other important risks and
uncertainties that could cause the Company’s actual events and
results to differ materially from those contained in the
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only
as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put
undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and, except as
required by law, the Company assumes no obligation and does not
intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events, or
otherwise.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200728005848/en/
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