Virgin Galactic unveils its latest thrill ride

MOJAVE, Calif.–Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne took the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004, are finally ready to unveil a commercial rocket plane designed to launch space tourists on the ultimate thrill ride.

Seating six passengers and two pilots, SpaceShipTwo will begin test flights next year with commercial launchings carrying paying customers starting after government regulatory requirements are met. Tickets for a sub-orbital up-and-down flight are expected to run about $200,000 a seat for the initial flights.

After about five minutes of weightlessness as the space plane arcs through the top of its ballistic trajectory, the rocket plane will fall back into the atmosphere, pivoting its wings upward in a “feathering” technique invented by Rutan to increase drag and ease the stress of re-entry. From there, the spacecraft will glide to a normal runway landing. Read more at news.cnet.com