What happened 2013 and what I expect from 2014?Tuesday 12/31/13 This is year is ending soon and now it is time to look what has happened. For me the most exciting events were to try G-forces at centrifuge and weightless flight in September. I had planned weightless flight since 2010 and this year I did it. To visit centrifuge was a little surprise which Virgin Galactic made possible. In September we had also our annual Virgin Galactic meeting by the rocket factory in Los Angeles. From September events I did write a 5-pages story to Tekniikan Maailma. The second big story was my interview at MTV 45-minutes in Finnish television. At my interview there was also some videos from the centrifuge and the weighless flight. Virgin Galactic tests goes on and the most remarkable tests were the rocket powered test flights in 29.4.2013 and 6.9.2013. Virgin Galactic has now 650 customers and there are four Finns at the moment. The fift Finn did not show up yet. The first commercial flight should take place in the next year. Mr Branson told in September that he will go to the space in the next summer. I hope that this will happen, so I can go to space too after one year from Mr Branson flight. While waiting for my flight I take care of me and I organize some little projects for me:) I am planning to ride with a motorcyckle 1600 km (Iron But) in May and In October I am planning to walk 100 km(Sysimusta Satku). |
Iron Sky movie is presented tomorrow the first time on televisonFriday 12/20/13, time 8:47 PM I will participate Iron Sky first night party for television. At the party I will meet Timo Vuorensola, who is director of the movie. You can watch the movie in TV2 at 22.15. I did see the movie last year and it is a great movie. It is amazing, that Finns are making this kind of movies. The trailer you can watch from Youtube: |
The Astronaut Diaries in NewScientistSaturday 12/7/13, time 7:39 PM NewScientist (no 2944) did publish 23.11.2013 The Astronaut Diaries. The story is written by Nigel Henbest, who is from UK. I have met him in our meetings three times and we have had always a lot to talk about. In the three pages story Nigel tells about his own experience with Virgin Galatic and did mention me in the story with a picture:). |
Lady Gaga goes too to the spaceSunday 11/10/13, time 9:54 PM Lady Gaga is going to the space with Virgin Galactic. Her flight should happen in 2015, which is the same year for my fliht. She is planning to sing in the space. If she sings, then there will be billions of viewers at youtube for the space song. |
NASTAR-centerWednesday 10/30/13 I did insert pictuers from NASTAR-center. http://en.suomalainenastronautti.fi/albumi/nastar/ NASTAR-center is located in Philadelphia and there you can get G-forces training. http://www.nastarcenter.com/ |
Virgin Galactic meeting at Mojave 25.09.2013Friday 10/11/13, time 7:45 PM There are some stories made of the Virgin Galactic meeting at Mojave: Time-magazine: CNN-video: |
My trip to USAFriday 9/20/13 I will fly today to Philadelphia, which is the first place to visit in my trip. I will take part in two days astronaut training at Nastar -center. On Wednesday I will visit the rocket factory close to Los Angeles. I hope that I will meet Burt Rutan at the factory. He is the main desinger for the rocket. We have our annual Virgin Galactic meeting at Los Angeles. Now we are more than 600, in the last meeting we were about 500. Our VG party is under spaceshuttle. On Thurdsay I will visit a NASA laboratory and on Friday I will go to ZERO-G flight. This flight I have been waiting for a long time. I will experience many 20-30 seconds weightless periods. More information: http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/Exhibits/AirAndSpace/endeavour/endeavour.phphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Rutan |
The second rocket powered flight of SpaceShipTwo!Friday 9/6/13 SpaceShipTwo flew the second time with the rocket motor on. The rocket motor ran 20 seconds, and in that time the rocket achieved 1.43 Mach speed. The maximum hight was 21 km. The flight went well. |
Stamps with Virgin Galactic ships and Mr BransonTuesday 9/3/13 There are stamps made in Togo, which have pictures of Mr Branson and Virgin Galactic ships. The stamps are published in 2010. I bought the stamps from ebay and they cost 5.30 EUR for me.
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Short astronaut training at NASTARTuesday 8/27/13 On my September trip I will participate two days astronaut training. There are lectures and some practical training. I will get a little foretaste what is coming. The most interesting machine might be the centrifuge. About 240 persons has participated this two days training. NASTAR (The National AeroSpace Tranining And Research Center) is located at Philadelphiassa, USA. |
Zero G flight will take place in SeptemberSunday 8/18/13 One thing, that I want to do before my spaceflight, is weightless flight (Zero G). I will do the flight during my California trip this September. There is a modified Boieng 727 -airplane which will do the flight. During the flight there will be 20-30 seconds weightless periods about 12-15 times. When I will got used to weightless environement, my spacefligth will be easier. |
Rocket Uno at IisalmiFriday 8/2/13 I did participate in KevytOlo Viikonloppu -event at Iisalmi , Finland, 27th July 2013. The Rocket Uno took part also in the Ford Mustang owner annual meeting, Tahko Fun Ran 2013. There was a Slalom race in center of Iisalmi which I drove with Rocket Uno. The co-driver was Jari Suutarinen. Thank organizing everything: Jari Mathalt and Matti Kuosmanen Tahko, Jarmo Miettinen City of Iisalmi and Juha Pokkinen Ford Mustang Owners’ Club of Finland.
Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjEgqTYfP1A |
New test flightTuesday 7/30/13 On Thursday 25th July SpaceShipTwo flew gain. This flight was a glide flight. The previous flight was in April. |
600th ticket is soldWednesday 6/26/13 Virgin Galactic told last week that 600th ticket is sold. Marha Waters is 42-years old woman from England. She has followed Virgin Galactic since 2010 and now she bought the ticket. The first ticket was sold in 2005. |
Pictures at Helsinki-Malmi airportSunday 6/16/13, time 8:15 PM Friday 14th June 2013 we took some pictures at Helsinki-Malmi airport.
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What Concorde and SpaceShipTwo has in common?Wednesday 6/12/13 Concorde and SpaceShipTwo are the only vehicles built for commercial service which have broken the speed of sound. Concorde flew at Mach 2,0 speed for years. SpaceShipTwo achieved Mach 1,3 in April. SpaceShipTwo will beat Concorde, because when going to space it's speed will be March 3,0 or more. |
New price for the fligh is 250 000 USDSaturday 6/1/13 Virgin Galactic did change price for the flight from 200 000 USD to 250 000 USD. My own flight price did not change. This is how Branson rewards people, who have had faith on the project, which has been going on 8 years now. New price is effectice from June 1st. |
Mojave callingThursday 5/23/13 On September 25th I will see how the rockets are being built in Mojave. There is a factory, where more SpaceShipTwo -rockets and WhiteKnightTwo -mother ships are being made. I cannot bring my own camera there... First I have to fly to Los Angels. From LA it is two hours trip to Mojave. And after Mojave we will have Virgin Galactic party!
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New Virign Galactic video of the first powered flightWednesday 5/1/13, time 7:04 PM This is the video, which was made Apirl 29th, 2013. This is no longer animation! https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HLDmcjeDohc |
