Winning Team Will Be Flown To US To Witness SS2 Launch

Earlier this week, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Aeronautical Society and Virgin Galactic joined to launch "Mission Virgin Galactic," billed as a truly innovative National Schools Competition.

Mission Virgin Galactic will be open to all 11-14 year old students across the United Kingdom, and has been designed with the backing of education experts to fit within and complement the national curriculum. The aim of the competition is to inspire pupils in the areas of science, math, technology and engineering in a fun and exciting way.

London's Channel 4 reports students will work in teams of four, to design a product demonstrating one or more principles used in the Virgin Galactic program. In keeping with the entrepreneurial nature of the competition, that product must also be marketable to consumers.

"Mission Virgin Galactic sets out to reinvigorate interest in the sheer excitement of recent developments in engineering and their context to new technologies in aerospace and transportation generally," said Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn. "We have to find solutions to the issues this planet faces and it will only be through a new generation of enthusiastic and environmentally conscious young engineers, entrepreneurs and scientists that we will achieve it. Hopefully, the lure of one day going to space can help to spur that spirit."

The grand prize for the winning team, and teacher, will be flown to the US to see the launch of SpaceShipTwo, Virgin's commercial spaceship.  This will be done in the presence of Sir Richard Branson.

FMI: www.missionvirgingalactic.com