Branson unveils Spaceship Two

January 2008
Affordable flights into space are about to become a reality with the unveiling of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.

Sir Richard Branson this week lifted the lid on SpaceShipTwo, which is scheduled for test flights later this year and for commercial tourism flights in 2009.

Two hundred clients are already reported to have paid more than $US200,000 to be on the first two-hour flight into space, and 80 of them have been through medical assessment and centrifuge training.

Unfortunately the craft only seats six passengers so most will have to wait some time for their flight. Virgin Galactic says a further 85,000 people have registered an interest in taking a space flight.

The flights make space travel "affordable", given that the only tourist flights into space up until now (through Space Adventures) have cost upwards of $20 million.