Virgin Galactic: Spacecraft For Tourists Is A Success On Test Flight Options

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http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology/20...15875-22627319/

The shimmering craft touched down as routinely as any other flight - except this one may have been the most significant in years.

SpaceShipTwo glided to Earth from 45,000ft, proving it should be able to bring passengers safely back from space.

Virgin Galactic's craft - also called the VSS Enterprise - is now on course to take tourists into space next year.

Pilot Pete Siebold was delighted with its first manned flight on Sunday after detaching the craft from its mother ship and gliding to the Mojave Desert in California in 11 minutes.

Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn said: "He's very brave. We dropped from 45,000ft, the height Concorde flew. And we didn't give him an engine. He said it flew better than he thought it would.

"The free-flight test is the major milestone before we start firing the rockets into space."

Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson said that seeing the manned craft land was a "great moment", adding: "The sky is no longer the limit. We will now begin the process of pushing beyond to the final frontier of space itself over the next year."

More tests will now be done as the VSS Enterprise is sent higher and higher.

The aim is for the mother ship - called the VMS Eve after Sir Richard's mum - to carry the craft to 56,000ft before it is fired into space, powered by its own rockets.

Virgin will then apply for a licence to become the first firm taking tourists on a trip that really is out of this world.

Customers will pay £121,000 to take the flights outside the Earth's atmosphere where they will experience weightlessness and gaze back at our world.

There seems to be no lack of wealthy customers willing to pay a lot of money for a once in a lifetime experience. I guess if I had the money to spare I too would be up for this, but maybe once it has flown a few more times.