As we continue to venture deeper into the space age, one of the foremost and biggest names in the field of space travel, Virgin Galactic, is now inching towards the day when it will officially launch its spaceship that will usher in the age of space tourism. The company is known to have conducted some 75 successful test flights of the carrier mother ship, White Knight Two, which will carry the SpaceShipTwo sub-orbital craft to a suitable height to launch the craft into orbit. Furthermore, Virgin Galactic has also conducted several successful test runs of the SpaceShipTwo craft, thereby marking the company’s commitment of bringing space tourism into the 21st century at the earliest.
As per reports, Virgin Galactic is aiming at an optimistic timeline of year 2013 to officially launch its commercial space travel services from the magnificent Spaceport America in New Mexico. So far, both the mother ship and the orbital craft had only been given preliminary test runs, however, this year, both these aircraft will be put through their paces as the company plans to send SpaceShipTwo higher than before. As per the space tourism program of Virgin Galactic, the travelers are expected to be taken some 62 miles into the earth’s orbit, where they’ll witness the curvature of the globe, along with the initial darkness of the outer space, while thoroughly enjoying the zero gravity environment. So far, though the both White Knight Two as well as SpaceShiptTwo are said to be ready for commercial space flight, still, the U.S Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is being waited upon to give its clearance for the two crafts to take to the skies.
Space tourism had for a long time been widely acclaimed as one of the most lucrative venture, which has lived up to its name, as Virgin Atlantic has already pre-booked 500 interest travelers, while charging a whopping $200,000 per seat.
