Virgin Galactic Booking Your Space Trip Now

Are you one of those who look up into the heavens wishing you could float on clouds? Do you feel envious of the astronauts? If the answer is yes and you have a spare $200,000 you are in luck. Virgin Galactic is booking now.

The deposit is a mere $20,000 and it's refundable. If you think this is a joke though you'd be mistaken. There are actual plans to get in the air by 2009. SpaceShipOne has made 3 flights with altitudes greater than 100km during 2004. The aircraft was privately built and funded by Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites. It was the first spacecraft to be undertaken by private citizens. They are being built at Mojave Spaceport in California, USA. Virgin Galatic is planning on being the first spaceline for tourists. In the next few years it plans on taking private individuals to space (and back) aboard SpaceShipTwo. Virgin is owned by Richard Branson, the famous billionaire. He is backing the dreams of designer Burt Rutan. Virgin Galactic will own and operate at least five of the new spaceships and two motherships that are being built now by Scaled Composites. The motherships aptly named WhiteKnightTwo will be instrumental for the flights. When the flights become available they will take off from the Mojave Spaceport. The flights will begin with the SpaceShipTwo being attached to ‘the mothership’ to 50,000 feet and then being released from the mothership and igniting its hybrid rocket. Then the ship will go 360,000 feet into space within 90 seconds. The ship will then re-enter the Earth's atmosphere for touchdown. The plan now is for once a week flights building up to one or two daily flights. Each flight will consist of 6 astronaut passengers and two pilots. The actual flight may not last long but the experience is not just the flight. There will be three days of prep time before passengers even board their flight. Passengers will have to pass a medical exam before even being considered, although the company does think most adults will be able to fly. All the training is for a 2 and a half hour flight. Ready to fly? Then just go to the site to book a flight.