As part of his continuing the preparations to begin its commercial passenger space flight operations, Virgin Galactic revealed the final design of the interior cabin of its VSS Unity spacecraft. The company unveiled the interiors during a virtual event today and offered members of the press (myself included) a special tour of the VR interiors. The cabin is designed with customer experience in mind, as one might expect for a trip that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Virgin Galactic VSS Unity will offer a maximum of six passengers an unparalleled journey into suborbital space, where they will experience the absence of gravity in zero gravity and will have the opportunity to observe the curve of the Earth and the darkness of the cosmos beyond the atmosphere. The cabin is entirely designed around the optimization of the safety, comfort and freedom of the paying private astronauts throughout the journey - from the flight up while it is attached to the means of transport, to the high G burn after the Unity separates itself from the transport of that vector, to wander in the free floating space and finally the high G return to Earth with an inclination very different from the initial atmospheric exit.
To do this, Virgin Galactic created carbon fiber and aluminum seats that combine interweaving of soft 3D materials with metallic and rose gold accents and fabrics created in collaboration with Under Armor (who also created the personalized spacesuits that passengers will wear ) to ensure that all private astronauts flying on Unity are as protected and comfortable as possible during parts of the flight where they will experience three times the normal gravity. These bespoke seats are customized in terms of size for each individual passenger and present thoughtful details such as a channel in the center of the headrest that can accommodate ponytails, for example.
The five-point harness incorporated into the seats can be loosened using a single buckle, after which the straps with the fixing hardware are automatically retracted into the seat to ensure that they are safe during the zero-gravity free-flying part of the trip, but easy enough to find when they need to relocate the return trip.
All seats are also designed to play the dual role of handles during free floatation, as well as anything else in the passenger cabin. This is also the reason why the seats have a cantilever upright that offers free space under each one, which is more space for exploration once the Unit exits the Earth's atmosphere and concepts such as up and down lose meaning.
Throughout the cabin, Virgin used soft materials for the same reason and there are a total of 17 windows inside (including three for the two-person crew), with each of the windows accessible to passengers rounded by a soft halo " Complete with edge for handle and integrated camera. In fact, Virgin has placed cameras throughout the cabin and each offers a high-quality photo capture developed by imaging experts for travel-specific lighting conditions. The thought here is that all private astronauts should be guaranteed excellent documentation of their experience without having to worry about capturing any of this on their own. Virgin says it will provide some of these images almost immediately upon landing so space travelers can immediately share their social accounts.
Each seat is a window seat, one on the side and one on the top, for breathtaking views. There is also a large mirror covering the entire rear bulkhead that separates the cabin from the rocket engine, which gives astronauts the ability to check out their zero-G antics.
The seats also change the orientation and inclination based on what part of the journey is happening, from vertical for those 3.5 G on the rocket's turn upwards, to a reclined position for the 3G indentation which slows down the speed of the atmosphere. Each seat also has an information display that can provide data on what is happening during the flight, even if the pilot and co-pilot are not completely separated from the main cabin, so theoretically you can also ask them questions about the live journey,.
Virgin Galactic also took in-flight mood lighting that its airliner counterpart paved the way and translated for space, with dynamic lighting that reacts to each stage of the journey and emanates from various cabin lights strategically positioned and not obvious. Take a look below for more detailed photos of the cabin interior, including a configuration that allows three passengers but saves space on the other side of the cabin for experiments (in another way Virgin Galactic plans to monetize her service).
The company still has some final preparations to make before it can start flying its paying customers, but with the full VSS Unity interior, it's closer than ever to its goal. This is certainly a unique offer, so it is difficult to judge the product without any available reviewer, but it is clear that Virgin Galactic has put a lot of thought, consideration and experience in developing a spaceship interior designed to work for anyone who can afford to take the trip.
