Branson unveils glimpse of Virgin civilian spaceship

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2006

NEW YORK (AFP) — British billionaire Richard Branson unveiled a mockup of his Virgin Galactic civilian spaceship, vowing to do his part to make space travel a reality for millions of people. SpaceShipTwo, a vehicle being built in California's Mojave Desert, has technology that could also be used in airplanes and could eventually allow people to travel between London and Sydney in half an hour, Branson said at a news conference.

"Our vision is to successfully build the world's first environmentally benign space launch system and prove once and for all the commercial viability of a safe space launch system that we believe will eventually be capable of taking payload and science into space as well as people," he said. Branson's Virgin Galactic subsidiary, which wants to...