Virgin founder plans commercial space travel

Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin brand-which now includes Virgin Atlantic and Virgin America-has unveiled his plans to develop a new sector in the commercial air travel industry, which will appeal to those who would like to get a taste of outer space. For the first time ever, media representatives got a peak at an innovative new aircraft, called the White Knight Two, which will transport passengers to the outer atmosphere of our planet. The aircraft is actually comprised of two separate planes, which are joined together by a long wing. As such, it looks as though two smaller airplanes have simply been joined together at the wings.

Passengers would use this aircraft to fly to a height of 48,000 feet, but the truly unique experience would begin here, when they would be launched into space, on a rocket called Space Ship Two. The rocket itself would be launched with the assistance of White Knight Two. Passengers would then make their way to a height of 360,000 feet and their experience would even involve a few minutes of weightlessness, in order to see what being an astronaut really feels like. The total flying time is set to take around two and a half hours and after the space experience, passengers are brought back to earth, aboard the space ship. The ship will have the capability to land, just like a regular airplane. Branson expects that the testing of the actual spaceship will get under way within one year and passengers may be able to experience the outer limits of our planet as early as 2010.

Branson helped fund the spaceship project and he was present at the ceremonious unveiling of the White Knight, which took place around 95 miles outside of Los Angeles.

Thank you to NewsDay for the initial report.

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