The Viking age lasted from AD 790 to 1100. The Vikings were mainly from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, and were the best shipbuilders and seamen of their time. They were able to travel long distances in their longships and attack towns on the coasts of Britain and Ireland. They reached Greenland, Iceland, and even America. The Vikings’ boats were long, narrow, light, and flexible. They made them out of oak wood. The typical length of a longship was about 20 meters. The hulls of the ships were shallow so that they could dock on beaches and sail in shallow water. A longship had a large, square, woolen sail, which the Vikings covered in horse fat to make it waterproof. The main power for the longship was from the oars, which were all along the ship. There were usually a crew of about 60 men who rowed the boat. The sailors usually placed their shields along the side of the boat for protection. They also carved the fronts of their ships into the shape of a dragon’s head in order to scare the enemies.

    With spacecraft that can carry tourists into orbit and connect Paris to New York in less than two hours, the new heroes of space travel are not astronauts but daring captains of industry. This new breed of space pioneers are all using private money to push the final frontier as government space programs fall away. Times have changed. Once the space race was led by the likes of the U.S. space agency NASA that put the first man on the moon in 1969. 

    Today it is entrepreneur Elon Musk — the founder of Tesla electric cars and space exploration company Space—who wants to reach Mars in the 2020s. The furthest advanced — and most highly publicized — private space project is led by Richard Branson, the British founder of the Virgin Group. His shuttle, SpaceShipTwo, will be launched at high altitude from a weird-looking four-engined mother ship — which can carry two pilots and up to six passengers —before embarking on a three-hour suborbital flight. 

    Branson and his sons will be the first passengers aboard the shuttle when it is expected to launch late 2014. His company Virgin Galactic was given the green light in May by the U.S. Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to carry passengers from a base in New Mexico, which is named “Spaceport America” — the stuff of science fiction. 

    The US$250,000 price of a ticket has not deterred more than 600 people, including celebrities such as actor Leonardo Di Caprio, from booking their seats.