Rocket man cautious of Branson’s space flights

Astronaut Andy Thomas says South Australia would be an ideal place to establish a launch pad for passenger spacecraft.

Andy Thomas with Steven Marshall.

The first Australian-born NASA astronaut to go to space, Andy Thomas, says South Australia would be an ideal place to establish a launch pad for passenger spacecraft but has criticised Richard Branson’s space missions as a “dead-end”.

Dr Thomas, who has been to space four times, yesterday said Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard would like to have a space port outside the US.

“South Australia … would be an ideal place,” Dr Thomas said.

“He (Sir Richard) would probably ask for huge tax incentives to do that — that’s how he got the facility in New Mexico. But Richard Branson could sell refrigerators to Eskimos — he’s a businessman and he’s portraying that flight experience in a way I would not be comfortable saying.

“It’s true that he will fly to the edge of space but he can’t stay there; he falls right back down.

“It’s really just a high-altitude aeroplane flight and a dangerous one at that. As a technology to get humans out into space, it’s a go-nowhere, dead-end technology. You can’t grow it.”

Yesterday at the University of Adelaide, South Australian Premier Steven Marshall praised the astronaut for his “pivotal role” in securing Adelaide as the permanent headquarters of the Australian Space Agency from July next year.