For $190,000, Branson's ‘Spaceship' Will Take You Up 87 Miles

Sir Richard Branson has unveiled a mock-up of the rocket-powered vehicle that will carry clients into space through his Virgin Galactic business. The Virgin "spaceships" are designed to carry six passengers and two pilots to an altitude of about 87 miles on a suborbital space flight.

Tickets on a Virgin Galactic flight are expected to cost about $190,000.

The mock-up of the spacecraft was unveiled at the Javits exhibition center in New York yesterday.

The Virgin craft are based on the design of SpaceShipOne, built by aviation pioneer Burt Rutan, which became the first privately built vehicle to reach space in 2004.

SpaceShipOne made three flights to altitudes just greater than 62 miles — the edge of the Earth's atmosphere — claiming the prestigious Ansari X Prize.

The rocket plane was first carried to a launch altitude of 50,000 feet by an aircraft, or mother ship, called White Knight.

It was then released and ignited its rocket engine, which propelled it through the atmosphere.

Mr. Branson tested a passenger seat inside the mock-up. The $10 million Ansari X Prize was offered to the first non-government-sponsored, manned flight into space.

Virgin Group has contracted Mr. Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, to design and build the passenger spaceship and its mother ship. Virgin Galactic will own and operate at least five spaceships and two mother ships.

The passenger flights, which could begin in 2009, will take off from a $225 million facility called Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert.

The president of Virgin Galactic, Will Whitehorn, said the firm was in negotiations over a reality TV show.

In the show, contestants would compete to win a place on a space flight, the Press Association reported.

Mr. Whitehorn said: "The indications are that we can create a show that would give people the chance to go into space. It would be a cross between Dr. Who, Star Trek, and the Krypton Factor."

Virgin Galactic is one of several private firms vying to open up public access to space.