In a news release by LOS ANGELES (AFP) a British billionaire, Sir Richard Branson has made plans to unveil a space craft today, Monday that could soon carry tourists on an out-of-this-world trip into space.  All this for a mere $200,000 each.

They have chosen the  Mojave desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas becasue of  the resembulanc to the lunar landscape they will need to stage the roll-out of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2), aerospace engineer, Burt Rutan’s brain child.  SS2.  The craft can carry six passengers and two pilots.  The plan is to begin test flights next year and start commercial flights between 2011 and 2012.

Virgin Galactic, owned by Branson’s Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments, has reported that they already have about 300 pre paid clients from around the world that have paid a total of 40 million dollars in deposits to guarantee a ride on the maiden voyage.

They further report that Pamela Hurley-Moser, owner of Hurley Travel Experts in Portland, Oregon, is among 50 travel consultants chosen as accredited space agents for Virgin Galactic.

The company will have special trips to Iceland, Thailand and, yes, space.  Imagine a flight from Hong Kong to London in 3 hours.  That would certainly appeal to a lot of travelers.

Now mind you these brave souls are willing to pay the hefty fee for a seat on the two-and-a-half-hour flights that are to be 62 miles above Earth.

This company now takes the ashes of hundreds of people at a time into space, up from about 27 people in 2007.

It seems like an over indulgence for adventurous millionaires will some day spur the construction of facilities for a solar power satellite system, asteroid exploration, mineral extraction and research of compounds cheaper to produce in microgravity.

A spokesperson states, “Once we have routine transportation into suborbital and orbital space we will see business travel and package delivery times reduced and we will begin to see construction of large facilities in Earth orbit.”

Mother Ship WhiteKnightTwo has been test-flying since last December. Photo: Adrian Gaut

The WhiteKnightTwo mothership, that is to be launched Monday has a wingspan of 140 feet, will carry the smaller SS2 rocket ship 50,000 feet  into the sky and then detach and continue up into space.   Then the tourists will get an experience of about five minutes of weightlessness.

Amazing that in the near future we will be looking at flight travel in a whole new way.   I guess it is about time.  The government run space program really has far more restrictions and a private run space program really can progress so much more faster.

I sure hope that there will be some restrictions on the amount of garbage that can be left in space by the private companies.  It will be very interesting to follow the progress of this flight.

I wish all a safe and productive flight.  What do you think?  Share your comment on this here and let us all know.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Branson to Introduce Tourist Spaceship in Mojave (nytimes.com)
• Richard Branson joins the space race (guardian.co.uk)
• Virgin Galactics Space-Bound Aircraft Is Ready for Liftoff (wired.com)
• Virgin Galactic Poised to Unveil Suborbital Space Liner (space.com)
• After 5 years, space tourism a work in progress (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Space Tourism Yet to Fly, 5 Years Since 1st Flight (usnews.com)
• Bad News For NASA Is Good News For Space Tourism (wired.com)
• Virgin Galactic preps SpaceShipTwo (gadling.com)
• T-minus 18 months and counting: Virgin Galactic and the future of space tourism (scientificamerican.com)
• 5 Years After SpaceShipOne: Commercial Spaceflight Ready for ‘Go’ (space.com)
• Space resort on schedule to open in 2012 (nationalpost.com)

BLOGbalB2B Marketplace

• Airlines Get a Fine- Passengers Spend Night on Plane Image via WikipediaThanksgiving is about here and most of us have family that are traveling to our dinner. There will be a lot of travelers coming in by air. It is unbeliveable to hear that a plane full of passengers held in the plane overnight. Our government is fining, for......
• Black Friday Shopping Image by Robert Dumas via Flickr Do you shop Black Friday like so many of our population does? I do not. I am not good with crowds. Also, I do a lot of our shopping online. Here at home in Upstate New York this time of year the weather is......
• Deer Hunting Season Goes On Image by Paul ??? Li via FlickrThis year my husband need a new "Red Dot" scope Every year before the hunting season there is always some type of gear or supplies that have to be purchased. I tell you getting venison is sure costly. He also needs to add to......
• Wood Pellets- You Can Get Them Online! Image by Storm via FlickrWOOD PELLETS. If you need Wood Pellets you should be checking out this company, WoodPellets.com I can't tell you how much time my husband and I spent going around to different stores trying to find a good price on Wood Pellets to purchase by the ton.......
• Salvation Army Kettle Upgrade! Image by turtlemom4bacon via FlickrI guess it really is a sign of the times. The Salvation Army is now installing credit card swiping machines in their kettles. According to an article: Salvation Army Debuts Credit Card Kettles They are a booming success. The article reports that they have found that......

• Monavie Lied About Virgin Galactic Promotion The following comes from frequent commenter Vogel: I remember a while back that Monavie was running a promotion in which they were offering top distributors the chance to win a seat on the Virgin Galactic space shuttle. Here are a few examples of distributors using the Virgin Galactic promotion to......
• The Magic Bus: a tripped-out travelling show, and the creator is on Smart Green Travel on Green 960 AM San Francisco What a long strange trip it's been! The Magic Bus, takes off from the center of San Francisco, transporting you back to a time of peace, love, and rock 'n' roll.  Smart Green Travel showcases the man behind this Transcendental Transportation Authority. Plus, what an honor to speak with the......
• Hooters Casino Losses Hooters Casino Losses The first quarter of 2010 was not one of the easiest in recent memory for the Hooters casino-hotel . Despite being located in Las Vegas , the world capital of casinos and gambling , this resort is not immune to the economic difficulties affecting casinos worldwide.......
• Avoid Peak Time Travel and Save Money on Your Flight Just like the roads, the airways have busy, peak travel times. Avoiding the peak travel periods on the roads has the benefit of avoiding the frustration of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, going nowhere fast. Avoiding the peak travel periods on airlines has the benefit of saving you a lot of......
• 80% off at Restaurant.com again ** This coupon has expired, but check my coupon code page to see if there's a fresh one! ** This time the coupon code for Restaurant.com is DINE.  Good all the way until the end of February! I've mentioned this before but getting 80% off Restaurant.com gift certificates means that......