Planetary Radio • Mar 10, 2015
Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides on LauncherOne and the Return of SpaceShipTwo
On This Episode
![20191024 georgetwhitesides](https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_768x768_crop_center-center_60_line/20191024_georgetwhitesides.jpg)
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](https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_768x511_crop_center-center_82_line/20150310_Virgin-Galactic-001.jpg 768w, https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_576x383_crop_center-center_82_line/20150310_Virgin-Galactic-001.jpg 576w)
![Ribbon cutting at new Virgin Galactic facility](https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_768x490_crop_center-center_60_line/20150310_Virgin-Galactic-004.jpg 768w, https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_576x367_crop_center-center_60_line/20150310_Virgin-Galactic-004.jpg 576w)
![6,000 job seekers line up at new Virgin Galactic facility in Long Beach, California](https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_768x511_crop_center-center_82_line/20150310_Virgin-Galactic-005.jpg 768w, https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/web/assets/pictures/_576x383_crop_center-center_82_line/20150310_Virgin-Galactic-005.jpg 576w)
Related Links:
- VirginGalactic’s LauncherOne
- Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides
- Emily’s Mini Mission Updates
- Mars One Suspends Work on Robotic Missions
- Sonia Van Meter on the Mars One Community Platform
- Apollo 10 (Snoopy and Charlie Brown)
This week's prizes are a 200-point iTelescope.net account worth $200 AND a stylish Planetary Radio t-shirt!
This week's question:
What is Ceres’ approximate rate of rotation?
To submit your answer:
Complete the contest entry form at http://planetary.org/radiocontest or write to us at [email protected] no later than Tuesday, March 17th at 8am Pacific Time. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.
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.