Easy Breezy Download PDF

The Dominican Republic’s family-friendly north coast delivers surprises on every shore. 

It’s a sweltering August afternoon in the Dominican Republic when I find myself scouring the jungle for passion fruit, or chinola, with my fit, young Dominican guide, Raul Custodio. We’re hiking at a brisk pace in air so humid it feels like syrup, and by the time we reach a broad ridge that pokes above the forest, our clothes are a sopping mess. “No chinola here,” he declares. “Let’s keep going. I know another spot.” Continue reading →

This is Your Brain Online Download PDF

Artificial intelligence will change the way we travel

The future is about to get personal. While artificial intelligence al- ready permeates industries such as finance and health care, it currently tackles fairly rudimentary tasks in the travel industry. For example, airlines and hotels use the technology in “conversational chatbots” that understand written language to help customers re- solve basic travel queries. That’s starting to change: Google Maps can now help us find parking. Siri predicts (with varying accuracy) where we’re headed at certain times of the day, makes real-time traffic assessments, and plans the quickest route. And numerous new travel-oriented firms are applying artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms (dynamic equations that do things like recommend movies on Netflix based on your viewing habits) to create seamless and more pleasurable vacations. Continue reading →

How to Launch a Spaceline Download PDF

Your ticket to the stars

If you’re the founder of the world’s premier commercial spaceline, finding a CEO with firsthand experience isn’t possible. So when Richard Branson began hunting for an executive to lead Virgin Galactic, he searched for a candidate who had not only dabbled in all realms of spaceflight, but also one whose imagination was as boundless as his own. Luckily, Branson met George Whitesides. When Whitesides, 39, joined Virgin Galactic in May 2010 as president and CEO, he had already served two years as chief of staff at NASA. His duties spanned the agency’s 150-plus ongoing missions—from probes to far-flung galaxies to satellites that survey our changing climate. Before NASA, Whitesides directed the National Space Society, a grassroots advocacy group that champions efforts to colonize other planets. He’s done stints at two space-tourism firms—Zero Gravity and Blastoff Corporation—and was an advisor to the FAA. From his multifaceted career, Whitesides says he’s learned, above all, that spaceflight requires unrelenting perseverance: “You have to go into it with commitment and stick to it.” Think you have the right stuff? Here are the next five steps. Continue reading →

This is Your Captain Speaking Download PDF

As Virgin Galactic’s passenger flights near, we take a look at the key faces and technologies behind the world’s first commercial spaceline.

When he wants to relax, David Mackay, 55, flies an Extra 300L, a performance aerobatic aircraft, doing vertical rolls and knife-edge spins. This helps him stay sharp at his day job: chief pilot for Virgin Galactic. At the moment, Mackay is flight-testing WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo—the mother ship that will shuttle tourists to 47,000 feet, and the rocket plane that will decouple there and blast into sub-orbital space—and is scheduled to begin flying tourists to space next year. The Scotland native made his first flight in 1977. “I did it with the University Air Squadron, which gave students experience with the armed forces,” he recalls. After graduating, Mackay joined the Royal Air Force (RAF), flying a Hawker Harrier GR3, a fighter known for its unique ability to take off and land vertically. “I always wanted to be a test pilot,” he says. “So as soon as I had sufficient experience, I applied to test pilot school.” He remained in the RAF as a test pilot until 1995, when he left to fly for Virgin Atlantic, and then, in 2009, joined Virgin Galactic to become the world’s first commercial spacecraft pilot. Continue reading →

Birth of a Spaceliner Download PDF

Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America, and Scaled Composites bring astrotourism to reality. The view from the Upham Hills, a lowly cluster of wind-scoured knolls protruding about 500 feet from New Mexico’s high desert, encompasses mostly hardscrabble flats. Three years ago, had you looked north a dozen miles, you’d have seen nothing—ranchland and perhaps a few roaming cattle. Today, however, a humongous orb about the size of a Costco punctuates the bleakness. What looks like an alien saucer is, in fact, Virgin Galactic’s new terminal and facilities at Spaceport America, the world’s first commercial spaceport.

It’s the culmination, some say, of New Mexico’s manifest destiny, set forth in the 1930s when Robert Goddard, the preeminent patriarch of rocketry, developed the first guided missiles at a secret site in nearby Roswell. Since then, aerospace has played an integral role in the state’s economy and identity, chiefly through projects at White Sands Missile Range, the largest U.S. military complex, which abuts Spaceport America’s property. Continue reading →