Branson Rolls Out His Tourist Spaceship
At a glitzy reception at the Mojave Air and Spaceport in the California desert, Sir Richard Branson on Monday unveiled what is intended to be the first private rocket ship to ferry tourists to the edge of space. But for now, the billionaire entrepreneur’s venture appears to be moving at a slow pace.
The festivities marking the rollout of SpaceshipTwo–a 60-foot long, all-composite craft designed to take six passengers and two crew members on sub-orbital flights–stressed the thrill of experiencing weightlessness and looking out the windows at 1,000-mile vistas during a roughly two-hour ride.
But at the same time, Mr. Branson’s space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, disclosed that safety issues and other factors continue to delay the start of scheduled commercial trips. Some outsiders also talked about the difficulties of fine-tuning the operation of the hybrid rocket motor used to power the spacecraft.
