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Planetary Radio • Mar 10, 2015

Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides on LauncherOne and the Return of SpaceShipTwo

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On This Episode

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George Whitesides

Virgin Galactic advisory board member

6,000 job-seekers came to the new Long Beach, California home of Virgin Galactic’s LauncherOne rocket on a recent morning. We sit down with CEO George Whitesides for a conversation about this new effort and the return of SpaceShipTwo. Emily Lakdawalla reveals the latest news from a solar system full of spacecraft. Bill Nye talks about hard times for the Mars One one-way trip to the Red Planet. Bruce Betts is always up on the night sky, even as Snoopy flies again!

Elected officials join Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides for a description of LauncherOne
Elected officials join Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides for a description of LauncherOne Image: Virgin Galactic
Models of LauncherOne and WhiteKnightTwo in air launch configuration
Models of LauncherOne and WhiteKnightTwo in air launch configuration Image: Virgin Galactic
Ribbon cutting at new Virgin Galactic facility
Ribbon cutting at new Virgin Galactic facility U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (far left) joins Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides (center) and Long Beach, California Mayor Robert Garcia (fourth from left) for ribbon cutting at Virgin Galactic's new facility.Image: Virgin Galactic
6,000 job seekers line up at new Virgin Galactic facility in Long Beach, California
6,000 job seekers line up at new Virgin Galactic facility in Long Beach, California Image: Virgin Galactic

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This week's question:

What is Ceres’ approximate rate of rotation?

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Last week's question:

When was Ceres discovered, and who discovered it?

Answer:

The answer will be revealed next week.

Question from the week before:

About how close to the moon’s surface did Snoopy, the Apollo 10 Lunar Module, get?

Answer:

Snoopy, the Apollo 10 Lunar Module, descended to just 15.6 kilometers above the moon’s surface.