Branson hopes tourist spaceship will fly in 2011

A SPACECRAFT designed to rocket wealthy tourists into space as early as 2011 was unveiled yesterday in what backers of the venture hope will signal a new era in aviation history.

The long-awaited glimpse of SpaceShipTwo marks the first public appearance of a commercial passenger spacecraft.

The project is bankrolled by Virgin Galactic founder, British billionaire Richard Branson, who partnered famed aviation designer Burt Rutan, the brains behind the venture.