Virgin Galactic reveals cabin interior
Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc, a vertically integrated aerospace and space travel company, have revealed the cabin interior of its first SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity. 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 designs to transform the customer experience, such ethos 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 this 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.
Individually sized seats, created using the highest- grade aluminium and carbon-fibre manufacturing techniques, reinforce this sense. The importance of astronaut comfort to optimise 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. The colour 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 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 maximise an unrestricted astronaut float zone when in zero gravity.
SpaceShipTwo’s cabin was deliberately sized to allow for an outof-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.
Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group stated, “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.’’