Branson takes on final frontier with tourist spaceship

THE mothership which will launch the first space tourists into the atmosphere was unveiled by Richard Branson in California.

WhiteKnightTwo (WK2), the carrier aircraft which will be used to launch SpaceShipTwo into orbit, “will allow thousands of people to realise their dreams” and “act as a catalyst to transform human access to space”, Branson said.

Speaking at the launch ceremony in the spaceship’s hangar at the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California, the British billionaire, who will be among the first space tourists with his family, said the venture would help the world “wake up” to the fragility of the planet and the importance of protecting Earth.

Space is “the final frontier that is so essential to the future of civilisation on this planet,” he said.

“The first generation of space tourists, many of whom are with us today, will be paving the way as they marvel at the beauty of our planet and experience the freedom of weightlessness and the blackness of space,” he said.

“The rollout of WhiteKnightTwo takes the Virgin Galactic vision to the next level and continues to provide tangible evidence that this most ambitious of projects is not only for real but is making tremendous progress towards our goal of safe commercial operation.”

Branson said the first tourists could be launched into space in around 18 months’ time, but there is no official launch date yet — SpaceShipTwo needs to be completed before a series of test flights and safety tests are carried out.

More than 250 customers paid $200,000 (£100,000) for the chance to be one of Virgin Galactic’s first space tourists.

The 140ft WK2 is the largest all-carbon composite aircraft and is capable of reaching 50,000ft.

Branson said the spaceships would also be able to launch small payloads and satellites into orbit at a relatively low cost.