While Virgin Galactic got a lot of publicity in the Middle East last week when it announced its first customer from the UAE, not everyone is impressed. In an article in ArabianBusiness.com, Anil Bhoyrul sees the announcement, and Virgin Galactic itself, as little more than a publicity stunt designed to further the overall Virgin brand. Bhoyrul acknowledges that Virgin Galactic has attracted a lot of attention and customers to date (although it’s not clear they have really signed up 400 fully-paid customers yet, and even if they did, the $80 million in revenue would not be nearly enough to break even). However, “the real point here is that, whether it made a dollar or not, this is going to be the greatest marketing stunt of all time, and executed by one of the world’s greatest marketing men.”

Almost exactly a year after examining what the well-dressed space tourist will wear, the New York Times reexamines the subject, this time looking at what designer Philippe Starck is proposing for Virgin Galactic. His current design is pretty basic: a “plastic-looking bodysuit with attenuated gloves and a dome helmet”, according to the Times. But that’s not his first design: he originally suggested that SpaceShipTwo passengers fly in the buff. Fortunately, “the prospect of what denuded passengers would look like in zero gravity made him reconsider.”