Word: virgines
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There isn't one aspect of the business that hasn't been a cause for concern for environmental or public-health groups. Whether the ingredients in the actual product, the manufacturing of the plastic packaging that carries it or the use of virgin-paper outer packaging is at issue depends on which organization is complaining. A small group of organic and eco-conscious brands, like European labels Weleda and Dr. Hauschka and Australia's Jurlique, has been catering to an increasingly savvy group of green-minded consumers in the U.S. for decades. But most of the more commercially available luxury...
...gonna be simpler than I thought," agrees Ed Holliday, a 62-year-old hedge fund wholesaler from Laguna Niguel, California. "We're not required to be astronauts, like Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man." Actually, it's a two-way street. Virgin Galactic must find out before blast-off how people in their 50s, 60s and 70s - those most able to afford it - can cope with the stress of space travel. "To be commercial viable and safe, we need data on the way people react to g forces and the psychological experience of going into space...
When Mark Easterfield heard Virgin Galactic was offering flights into space for private travelers two years ago, he took his wife Christine down to their local pub in Cambridge, England, and popped the question: Would she go with him? It took a few pints, but she said yes. "What's great about Virgin is it's not the classic astronaut in a space suit. The point is to make it simple so regular people can go into space," says Christine. "I want to look at the stars. I don't want to study astrophysics...
...space with Galactic, which hopes to begin operations by 2009. (Branson is still taking deposits of $100,000 to $175,000 for travelers who want to go during the first year.) About a dozen of the aspiring astronauts gathered late November on Necker Island, the private island owned by Virgin Galactic's boss, Richard Branson, in the British Virgin Islands. I went expecting to meet a bunch of Richie Rich types just looking for a thrill ride. Instead, I found a group of hardy pioneers, millionaires sure, but idealists who dreamed as kids of going into space. Mark, for instance...
...number of the Founders were struck at how open Branson and the legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan have been, inviting them to Rutan's closed shop out in the Mojave Desert, to the Virgin Galactic launch in New York, and yes, to Branson's private island. "Richard can carry on research until 2012 as far as I'm concerned. It's such fun," says John Goodwin, a 62-year-old retired candy wholesaler from England, who talked while his fellow travelers played tennis in the rain. Goodwin had visited Rutan's workshop. "There he is, answering your questions...