Virgin Galactic Reveals SpaceShipTwo

Richard Branson's Virgin Group space division, Virgin Galactic unveiled SpaceShipTwo on Wednesday in New York City. Nearing its final phases of construction by Scaled Composites, the ship is set to be ready to take its first tourist into space in mid-2009.

Before the first tourist may board the craft though, it must take 50 test flights. This is not without its dangers as last July, one of SpaceShipTwo's engines killed three Scaled Composites employees in an explosion. But safety is paramount to Virgin Galactic and Branson claimed that former Star Trek Captain William Shatner is the first scheduled to fly on SpaceShipTwo. Shatner said that he wants to go up as long as he comes back safely.

Branson claims that it has up to 200 booked seats on SpaceShipTwo thus far for a sub-orbital flight, even though the ticket price is about $200,000. One British business traveler was able to redeem two million frequent flier miles for a 2009 flight on SpaceShipTwo. Branson said that after the first 100 passengers, the deposit will drop to $100,000 for the next 400 passengers, and Branson hopes to get the price down to $20,000 eventually.

The space ship will cruse at a maximum altitude of 68 miles, just exceeding the formal boundary of space. The flight is said to be planned to last about 2 1/2 hours. This will include about 6 minutes of weightlessness at its peak in suborbital space.

The craft will launch from the under-side of a mother ship known as the WhiteKnightTwo which was also unveiled in New York City today.

Virgin Galactic Reveals SpaceShipTwo

For those ready for space tourism, Virgin Galactic will be ready in mid-2009 with SpaceShipTwo.