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This is"a pure piece of risk capital and it is based upon the fact that we perceived at the time that the only way this was ever going to happen was if we did it. This is a high-risk venture," says Virgin Galactic president and 20-year Virgin group public relations veteran Will Whitehorn, reflecting on the origins of his spaceline at its headquarters in Piccadilly, London. For $200,000 per seat that spaceline is offering in the next few years a few minutes of weightlessness with a cabin to float around in at a 110km (68miles) apogee during a 90min trip.The...

MOJAVE - Nearly four years after British mogul Sir Richard Branson announced he intended to fly paying passengers into space, the first step in a new era of commercial space travel was unveiled Monday at the Mojave Air and Space Port. WhiteKnightTwo, the prototype mothership for Virgin Galactic commercial passenger spaceline, was revealed before international media, aerospace enthusiasts and assorted dignitaries. "This is quite something, isn't it?" Branson, the Virgin Group founder, asked those gathered, calling WhiteKnightTwo "one of the most beautiful and extraordinary aviation vehicles ever developed." Designed and built by Scaled Composites, the Mojave firm founded by aviation...