Sir Richard Branson

After five years of secret construction, the cloak is coming off a privately funded spacecraft designed to fly well-heeled tourists into space. The long-awaited glimpse of SpaceShipTwo, slated for rollout Monday in the Mojave Desert, could not come sooner for the scores of wannabe astronauts who have forked over part of their disposable income for the chance to float in zero gravity. "We've all been patiently waiting to see exactly what the vehicle is going to look like," said Peter Cheney, a 63-year-old potential space tourist from Seattle who was among the first to sign up for suborbital space rides marketed by Virgin Galactic. ... Read Full Story

Richard Branson unveiled his Virgin Galactic spaceliner for tourists willing to pay 200,000 dollars a ticket Monday, showing off a white port-holed craft suspended under the wings of a mothership dubbed the White Knight. Previewing the roll-out of the Virgin Galactic craft in California's Mojave desert, the British billionaire said he planned to be on its first passenger flight in about 18 months time with his family and the space ship's American designer Burt Rutan. Behind him, SpaceShipTwo was suspended between what looked like two jet aircraft joined together with a common wing. Emblazoned on the White Knight mothership was the image of a ... Read Full Story

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson will unveil a craft on Monday that could soon carry tourists on an out-of-this-world trip into space -- for a mere 200,000 dollars. The lunar-like landscape of the Mojave desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas will stage the roll-out of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2), the brain child of aerospace engineer Burt Rutan. SS2, which can carry six passengers and two pilots, plans 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, says about 300 adventurers from around the world have paid ... Read Full Story

This morning an odd story surfaced and began orbiting the Web: Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic signed ’80s rock heartthrobs (now aging ’80s rock heartthrobs) Spandau Ballet to be the first band to rock out in space. Citing a press release of dubious origin, several blogs and even the UK’s Daily Mail reported the story, even naming possible songs the group would play during a five-minute weightless set. But we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. The Internet has hoodwinked us once again. A spokesman for Virgin Galactic told PopSci : “It is not true. An agent approached us some time ago ... Read Full Story

Amid all of the financial crises and political disasters of the current era, it's important to take time to recognize that innovation and progress still continue. The recent announcement about SpaceShipTwo is proof of that—and also provides some evidence about the role of government . SpaceShipOne, Burt Rutan's experimental space-plane, succeeded precisely because it was not a government-funded project but the work of a private entrepreneur with a vision. At its launch, one fan held up a sign that read "SpaceShipOne, Government Zero." Rutan has been joined by another visionary entrepreneur, Richard Branson, who has financed the development of SpaceShipTwo as the first of ... Read Full Story