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Virgin Galactic Debuts SpaceShipTwo, First Commercial Spacecraft

by Warren Riddle on December 7, 2009 at 05:50 PM

Back in the summer of 2008, Virgin Galactic unveiled its WhiteKnightTwo spacecraft, a carrier designed to piggyback the world's first commercial space-liner. Today, after months of anticipation, Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson finally revealed the actual craft that the WhiteKnightTwo will jettison into space.

According to Engadget, Virgin hopes that the shuttle known as SpaceShipTwo will embark on its inaugural journey sometime in 2011. The craft, which seats six passengers and two pilots, will reportedly travel through space for over two hours, including an epic five minutes of weightlessness. Virgin still must accomplish numerous tasks before the craft is truly space-ready, though, including the construction of the so-called Spaceport America in New Mexico.

But, since the individual voyages will reportedly cost over $100,000 per ticket, the delay's all well and good. It will provide some time for everyday folks to start stashing away those hard-earned Galaxy Credits and Darseks. [From: Engadget]

Tags: richard branson, RichardBranson, space tourism, spaceshiptwo, SpaceTourism, top, virgin, virgin galactic, VirginGalactic, whiteknighttwo

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