One step closer to actual space tourism for Virgin Galactic by Zuzana Zelenakova

Virgin Galactic´s tourism space ship rocket SpaceShipTwo completed successfully its first solo glide flight yesterday. For the company belonging to Richard Branson´s Virgin Group it is a big step forward in its efforts to provide sub-orbital, and later also orbital spaceflights to paying public. SpaceShipTwo was carried to an altitude of 45,000 feet by its mothership dubbed WhiteKnightTwo and then released over the Mojave Desert, California. The rocket flew on its own for 11 minutes before landing on an airport. It took 25 minutes to complete the whole test flight. "It's a very big deal," Virgin president Sir Richard Branson told The Associated Press. "There are! a number of big deals on the way to getting commercial space travel becoming a reality. This was a very big step. We now know that the spaceship glides. We know it can be dropped safely from the mothership and we know it can land safely. That's three big ticks." "The next big step will be the rocket tests actually on the spacecraft itself," he added. "We've obviously have done thousands of rocket tests on the ground, the next big test is in the air. We'll be doing gentle rocket tests in the air, ultimately culminating into taking the spaceship into space." Compared to its predecessor SpaceShipOne this rocket is able to fly higher, up to 110 km, thus surpassing the defined boundary of space (100 km). All in all, it means that customers will able to experience the weightlessness for a longer period of time. SpaceShipTwo can carry two members of the crew and six passengers. The rocket was introduced to the world on 7 December, 2009. Up to now, several hundred people have alre! ady signed up for the flight which will cost them about $200,0! 00.
related story (sgx18379): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101011/ap_on_sc/us_space_touris...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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