This week's After Math appears to have taken on a comic book theme. Want to make your own Thor hammer? How about your very own Atomic Watch -- rather than those radio-wave-based excuses of a timepiece? We've also got the very real prospect of civilian flights to outer space and, er, Kobe Bryant advertising Lenovo smartphones. Stranger things have happened, right? Join us after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation, Alt

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It's been a particularly good week for Sir Richard Branson. SpaceShipTwo, Virgin Galactic's sub-orbital peoplecarrier broke the sound barrier for the first time, and Virgin America began service into San Jose, California. Sir Richard was in town to welcome VA's first San Jose arrival, and we jumped at the chance to chat with him, even if only for a few minutes.

Our conversation revolved around Virgin Galactic's latest milestone on its journey towards ferrying the masses to the stars. Naturally, we wanted to know his plan to make space travel affordable for us non-billionaires, as the current cost of a Virgin Galactic ticket is a cool $200K quarter million dollars. His solution? A combination of more spacecraft, more spaceports and the most prolific satellite delivery service in history.

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Attention, amateur space cadets! If you've ever wanted to swing on a star or see one up close, consider this proof positive Virgin Galactic's that much closer to making your dreams come true. SpaceShipTwo, its inventively named commercial vehicle designed to take well-moneyed civilians into outerspace, has just completed its first rocket-powered test flight. The craft, partially owned by Virgin group overlord Sir Richard Branson and the Abu Dhabi-based investment group PJC, took off earlier today from its berth at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, where carrier-craft WhiteKnightTwo ferried it to a 47,000 ft altitude after which its own rockets kicked in for a supersonic flight. In all, the solo run lasted just slightly over ten minutes, during which the SS2 notched an altitude of 55,000 feet before returning safely back to its desert port.

For its first outing, the SS2 scored high marks by Virgin Galactic chief George Whitesides' estimation, performing just as expected with "expected burn duration, good engine performance and solid... handling qualities throughout." It's encouraging news for the nascent space tourism industry, although it's worth noting this flight carried reduced risk considering it was bound to our own atmosphere. The team anticipates that "full space flight" testing will begin sometime before year's end. As for when you'll be able to actually book a real deal luxury space flight? Virgin Galactic's set a tentative 2015 date for that, giving you, the every(wo)man, plenty of time to save up or mortgage your life for the opportunity to tour the cosmos.

Filed under: Science

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Source: Virgin Galactic