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.