Ever the showman, Richard Branson, along with his Virgin Galactic team and designer Burt Rutan, in a dramatic early morning Mojave Desert setting revealed WhiteKnightTwo, the twin-fuselaged mother plane of the futuristic SpaceShipTwo. WhiteKnightTwo (WK2), the carrier aircraft will be used to launch SpaceShipTwo into orbit, “will allow thousands of people to realize their dreams” and “act as a catalyst to transform human access to space,” Sir Richard said. In attendance 300 scientists, engineers, technicians and space enthusiasts gathered for the christening by his mother, Eve, for whom the ship was named.
Enthusiasts look forward to the day when spaceports can be found worldwide. Methods of travel, weightless research and increased services from space technologies will ultimately drive access costs down and, in turn, stimulate further expansion.
The rollout indicated the rise of an ambitious program that space tourism advocates anticipate will culminate with the first suborbital journeys by the end of the decade. More than 270 amateur astronauts have reserved a $200,000 seat for a chance to float weightless for a mere five minutes some 62 miles above the Earth. The WhiteKnightTwo will make this happen by carrying SpaceShipTwo 50,000 feet into the sky before it is released to rocket upwards.
