Space cadets wanted to explore Virgin territory

HAVE you ever dreamed of being an astronaut? Well, if you have some “prior spaceflight experience” and US citizenship, Richard Branson may just offer you a job.

However, given those somewhat crucial caveats, it might be safer not to give up the day job just yet.

Virgin Galactic, the brainchild of Mr Branson and engineer Burt Butan, is recruiting for its first batch of pilot- astronauts to fly its wealthy customers to the edge of space and back.

The advertisement which appears in the careers section of virgin.com says the three successful applicants will be first based at the spaceflight test headquarters in Mojave, California, before moving to the spaceline commercial operations base, Spaceport America in New Mexico.

“Successful candidates will have to be very special: both a full-course graduate of a recognised test pilot school and highly and broadly experienced. Virgin is looking for pilots with significant experience of high performance fast-jet type airplanes, as well as large multi-engine types — not only that but prior spaceflight experience is an advantage,” the advert states.

Virgin Galactic is planning to become the world’s first private spaceline and the company hopes to offer its first commercial flight in around two years time for $200,000 (€138,000).

More than 400 people have already signed up for the privilege, including Irishmen Bill Cullen and PJ King. They will blast into space at three-and-a-half times the speed of sound before experiencing weightlessness and a view of the Earth that few human beings have ever experienced — a view that Branson himself has said “will change your perception of life”.

However, if you don’t have $200,000 to spare you had better start working on gaining US citizenship and becoming a test pilot.