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Tourist Spacehip Unveiled!

By Melissa Markham on February 1, 2008 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Entrepreneur Richard Branson and aircraft designer Burt Rutan unveiled this model of SpaceShipTwo—a shuttle planned to start ferrying tourists into space within a few years—in New York on January 23, 2008.

Within a few years a handful of rich tourists may be blasting into space in a craft that combines the aesthetics of the space shuttle and a corporate jet.

British billionaire Richard Branson and aerospace designer Burt Rutan unveiled a model Wednesday of SpaceShipTwo, the vehicle they hope will take passengers on suborbital joy rides.

"Breathtakingly beautiful," was Branson's assessment of the ship, which is now under construction at a hangar in the Mojave Desert and which may begin test flights as soon as this year.

I don't know that I will ever be privledged enough to ride in such a vehicle, but I have always been attracted to space travel, and I hope that the private sector continues to work in this arena for future generations!

Photo and story courtesy of National Geographic