Sir Richard Branson hopes to launch an era of commercial space travel within the next 12 months.
“The mother ship is finished… The rocket tests are going extremely well, and so I think that we’re now on track for a launch within 12 months of today,” he told CNN’s Piers Morgan this week.
Branson’s company, Virgin Galactic, hopes to one day send people into space and launch satellites for a fraction of the cost of government-run programmes, as well as eventually offering high-speed intercontinental flights.
“About an hour between Los Angeles and London is not completely out of the question,” Branson said, adding that it would likely take many years before the company could offer such a service.
In the meantime, AFP reports that Virgin has sold some 430 tickets for space travel – at $US200,000 each – for an estimated $US86 million.
The company plans to begin by taking tourists on sub orbital flights before eventually heading for a Virgin-branded hotel in space.
