Mothership for space tourists set to be unveiled

AEROSPACE engineers have been holed up in a Mojave Desert hangar for four years, fashioning a commercial spaceship to loft rich tourists some 100km above Earth.

Now the wraps are to come partially off the top-secret project.

British billionaire Richard Branson and American aerospace designer Burt Rutan are due to show off their mothership today, which is designed to air launch a passenger-toting spaceship out of the atmosphere.