Land Rover details what to expect on the Virgin Galactic space flight.

• New film provides breath-taking detail on space flights
• Detailed footage shows what budding astronauts will experience
• Land Rover is offering four friends the chance to win a space flight with Virgin Galactic

Land Rover has released exclusive new detail on what budding astronauts can expect to experience on a Virgin Galactic space flight.

The short film has been created as part of Land Rover's 'Galactic Discovery' competition, which offers four friends a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win a trip to space. Worth over US$1million, the top prize will see the winners take a one-week trip to the US, where they will undergo three days of training and preparation at the Foster + Partners designed Spaceport America in New Mexico, before taking a Mach 3.5 ride to space in Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, experiencing out of seat weightlessness and life changing views of planet Earth.

Gabi Whitfield, Global PR director for Land Rover said: "We knew the appetite for space travel would be huge around the world but also that this is still an area most people know very little about. We wanted to give our competition entrants as much detail as possible on the prize, to get them really excited about this once-in-a-lifetime experience”

The film shows footage of the test flights undertaken by Virgin Galactic to date, alongside CGI animation of the zero gravity experience. The voiceover provides a step by step account of the planned Virgin Galactic space experience from arrival at Virgin Galactic’s Gateway to Space facility at Spaceport America, to the Mach 3.5 vertical rocket ride into the black sky of space and the return to Earth.

Narration comes from Virgin Galactic’s Vice President of Operations, Mike Moses. He leads the team in all aspects of safe and successful space flight operations, including WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo vehicle processing, planning, training and flight crew operations. Mike came to VG after a distinguished career with NASA where amongst other things he chaired the Mission Management Team providing the ultimate space shuttle launch decision authority.

The film also shows Spaceport America in New Mexico, featuring the Norman Foster-designed Gateway to Space building which will become the home for Virgin Galactic space travel once commercial operations go live. This is the second film released in the last few weeks to showcase the facility, the other being the Land Rover Discovery Sport and competition launch film. Land Rover created this footage to bring the consumer one step closer to personal space travel, something anyone now has a chance to experience with Virgin Galactic through the incredible Galactic Discovery competition.

The exclusive ‘Winner Experience’ video can be seen here – www.landrover.com/gotospace

Land Rover and Virgin Galactic: Meet the team.

• Partners Land Rover and Virgin Galactic make progress in the world of testing and development of new vehicles – on land and in space
• New Discovery Sport entering final development phase, with prototype fleets testing globally: video available showing extreme hot and cold testing
• Land Rover is the first global partner of pioneering commercial spaceline Virgin Galactic
• Land Rover releases two videos contrasting Virgin Galactic testing and development with Land Rover product engineering tests

Global partners in adventure, innovation and exploration, Land Rover and Virgin Galactic have opened the doors on the world of prototype testing and development. For the first time both brands compare the parallels and complexities behind the test and development of a new vehicle. Both Land Rover and Virgin Galactic have used their partnership to share values and experiences that have steered each brand to develop cutting edge technologies for both land and space.

The pioneering partnership, announced in April this year, has continued to make strides through Land Rover’s continued development of the new Discovery Sport vehicle while Virgin Galactic moves closer to the launch of the world’s first spaceline.

As the new Discovery Sport enters its final testing phase, Land Rover and Virgin Galactic, which continues its flight test and engineering programmes ahead of the launch of its commercial spaceflight programme, are giving a glimpse of what goes into their test and development programmes.

Murray Dietsch, Programme Director, Land Rover, said: “There is a common philosophy towards engineering between Land Rover and our partners Virgin Galactic. We start with an idea and build from there, spending years refining a design and completing virtual testing before the first prototypes see the tarmac. As our partnership with Virgin Galactic develops, it will be fascinating to get closer to their team and explore common areas of engineering and expertise.

“Discovery Sport prototypes have covered approximately 750,000 miles during the testing phase, in some of the world’s harshest and most challenging terrains and climates. A total of 181 prototype vehicles were built, completing over 11,000 tests over their lifetimes around the globe, ensuring total confidence in the robustness of build and design of the vehicles.”

“As we look to launching the world’s first spaceline, Virgin Galactic continues to push boundaries and develop pioneering new innovations that bring to life our vision,” said George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic. “In engineering and design, like Land Rover, our focus is on precision, ingenuity, and unparalleled design.”