Managing Director David Ashford told the FT’s Jane Wild:
“We are talking about a revolution in space flight.”
The Financial Times journalist wrote that Bristol Spaceplanes is ‘trying to develop a spaceplane aimed at making space tourism an affordable reality’.
Later in the week, Ashford spoke to Wired UK’s space reporter Liat Clark, who wrote an excellent article taking in the view of the UK Space Agency’s Bob Waters. “In an engineering sense it’s a big challenge,” the Agency’s Director of the Innovation Growth Team told Wired.co.uk, speaking about Bristol Spaceplane’s plan in general. “But it’s a sensible sort of engineering approach.” Clark allowed Ashford to give his view on Virgin Galactic and discuss how spaceplanes will dramatically bring the cost of spaceflight down, making space tourism a reality for many more people.
David Ashford told the Bristol Post:
“We are a small company with big ideas. We are planning to start with a small demonstrator which lead to a craft capable of slashing the cost of access to space and leading to a new space age”.
Ashford told Mike Ribbeck, whose article also appeared in South West Business:
“Today, the major obstacle we face is mind-set. It could be said that the space agencies and major players aren’t taking spaceplanes seriously. The idea that a small company can have the best strategy for transforming spaceflight seems far too good to be true, and our main challenge is to persuade large investors and major players to start a serious dialogue.”
Bristol Spaceplanes also appeared in Bristol 24/7 and Insider Media.