Space Travel
31, Jul, 2010

Guinness Giving Away Virgin Galactic Seat

Written by spacetravel.org   
Tuesday, 07 July 2009 14:44
Guinness is offering a seat on a Virgin Galactic spacecraft as a prize in a contest honoring the 250th anniversary of Arthur Guinness' signing of the 9000-year lease on Guinness' St. James Brewery.

The winner will train at Spaceport America in New Mexico before taking a seat on a SpaceShipTwo spaceliner and traveling through Earth's atmosphere at a speed of about 2500 miles per hour, until it reaches suborbital space.

Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company owned by Richard Branson, has a fleet of spacecraft that it will use to carry passengers about 68 miles above the Earth. From there, they will be able to see about one thousand miles in any direction. For paying customers, the cost of such a trip is $200,000.

The online contest runs will run until September 24, 2009. The contest offers two other prizes: a trip to a Guinness bar beneath the ocean near Norway's Lofoten Islands and a chance to see the Black Eyed Peas perform live in a private performance.

Guinness will be also be celebrating the anniversary by hosting nearly 250 events worldwide. In addition, the anniversary will be commemorated with an advertising campaign, produced by Saatchi and Saatchi, called "To Arthur," that shows Arthur Guinness travelling around the world.