Ever dreamed of being an astronaut or taking a trip into space? You may be able to aboard the maiden SpaceShipTwo as soon as 2009, Virgin Galactic says.
Likely to become the first commercial "spaceline", Virgin Galactic is planning to offer sub-orbital flights for 500 passengers a year to an altitude of over 100km aboard a fleet of five SpaceShipTwo vehicles.
SpaceShipTwo will be a scaled-up version of Richard Branson's SpaceShipOne, which was the first privately built vehicle to reach over 100km high, taking out the Ansari X-Prize challenge. The ships are designed by Burt Rutan's company Scaled Composites and have been under construction at the Mojave Spaceport in California, US since 2005.
Mr Rutan, a veteran aircraft designer, says that while commercial spaceflight is just in its infancy, it may lead to colonisation of other planets.
"This will truly herald an era of personal spaceflight first described by the visionary science fiction writers of the 1940's and 1950's. Richard and I share a vision that commercially-viable and safe space tourism will provide the foundation for the human colonization of space," he said at a press conference.
Mr Rutan's design of the WhiteKnight launch vehicle has won critical acclaim as an efficient and reusable use of aerospace technology.
With its broad wings giving additional fuel-saving lift, the WhiteKnight mothership will take off from the Mohave Spaceport carrying SpaceShipTwo and its six passengers and two pilots.
SpaceShipTwo will undock from WhiteKnight at a height of around 15.2km (50,000 feet) and fire its rocket, continuing the journey upwards at almost 4000kmph, according to Virgin Galactic's website. Fully reclinable seats are designed to help spread the g-forces evenly over the body.
As the ship ascends to 100km, gravity decreases until eventually passengers can float freely in zero-gravity for around six minutes. And to ensure passengers a minimum of bumps and bruises, the interior of the craft is fully padded.
SpaceShipTwo's unique movable wing allows the craft to reduce speed early for re-entry, keeping the heat and buffeting to a minimum.
While SpaceshipTwo is likely to undergo flight-testing during this year, Virgin Galactic says actual spaceflights for ordinary citizens are expected in early 2009.
You can join the queue with the other 200 firm reservations, but at $US200,000 per person its bound to be the flight of a lifetime… once in a lifetime.
Feeds