Coverage by Wired Blogs@ wiki
SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry passengers to space, the maximum capacity will be eight people: six paying passengers and two pilots. The apogee of the new craft will be approximately 110 Km (68 miles), 10 km (6 miles) higher than SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipTwo will reach a speed of roughly 4000 km/h (2500 mph), using a single hybrid rocket motor. SpaceShipTwo uses a feathered re-entry system, feasible due to the low speed of re-entry — by contrast, space shuttles and other orbital spacecraft re-enter at orbital speeds, closer to 25000 km/h (16000 mph), requiring the use of heat shields. It will launch in midair at 15,200m (50,000ft) from its mother ship, WhiteKnightTwo. SpaceShipTwo's crew cabin will be 3.66m (12 ft) long and 2.28m (7.5 ft) in diameter.
Both SpaceShipTwo and its new carrier aircraft, White Knight Two (first craft called Eve after Richard Branson's mother), will be roughly three times the size of the first generation spacecraft and mothership that won the Ansari X Prize. While details remain scant (although a sketch of SpaceShipTwo has appeared in Popular Mechanics), SpaceShipTwo will have large porthole windows for the passengers' viewing pleasure, and all seats will recline back during landing to help decrease the discomfort of G-forces. Reportedly, the craft can land safely even if "catastrophic damage" occurs during the flight.
More than 65,000 would-be space tourists have applied for the first batch of 100 tickets to be available. The price will initially be US$200,000. However, after the first 100 tickets are sold the price would be dropped to around $100,000. Then deposits after the first year will drop to around $20,000. The duration of the flight will be approximately 2.5 hours, and weekly launches are planned.
In December 2007 Virgin Galactic had 200 paid-up applicants on its books for the early flights, and 95% were passing the necessary 6-8 g centrifuge tests.
Virgin Galactic websiteYouTube video of construction process
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