First Artist Ever In Space. As of 2014, Virgin Galactic plans to commence the first commercial space flights with the SpaceShipTwo, which is designed to attain an altitude of 100 km. The first official flight will be manned by the owner of Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson, and his family. The event is scheduled for the spring and is eagerly awaited by the press.
To reach the edge of space at 100 km altitude, the engine must burn continuously for roughly one and a half minutes, at which point weightlessness prevails. The space tourists can unfasten their seat belts and float through the cabin. The SpaceShipTwo will remain at this altitude for approximately five minutes and then glide back to Earth. This trip to nearby space is currently priced at $200,000 and bookings are being accepted. More than 500 reservations have already been made.
Photographer and artist Michael Najjar (born 1966 in Landau, lives and works in Berlin) will be the 115th passenger in this manned space flight vehicle, which carries six tourists per journey. On numerous occasions, he was permitted to visit the Space Port in the Mojave Desert in New Mexico and document test flights. Preparing for his first trip into space, he has also attended the human centrifuge facility in the German Air and Space Travel Center in Cologne and the cosmonaut training program in Russia's Star City.
The first Book "Outer Space" shows documentary and artistic photographs of elaborate preparations. The second book will present pictures of the sensational trip aboard the SpaceShipTwo.