Branson unveils space-tourism mothership

MOJAVE, California (AP) -- British billionaire Sir Richard Branson showed off a key piece of his fledgling commercial space program Monday, unveiling a carrier aircraft designed to launch a passenger-carrying spaceship.

A crowd of engineers, dignitaries and space enthusiasts gathered inside a Mojave Desert hangar for the unveiling countdown.

As the hangar door flew open, White Knight Two appeared outside under the sunny desert sky with Branson and American aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan waving from the cabin.

White Knight Two, billed as the world's largest all-carbon-composite aircraft, is "one of the most beautiful and extraordinary aviation vehicles ever developed," Branson said. See Branson discuss the space venture »

The public showing was the first concrete evidence of progress since the Rutan-designed SpaceShipOne became the first private, manned rocket to reach space in 2004. After the groundbreaking flights, Rutan and Branson partnered to commercialize on the success. Branson dubbed the venture Virgin Galactic.

Despite the buzz surrounding White Knight Two's debut, significant hurdles remain before customers can experience zero gravity for $200,000 a ticket.

White Knight Two must undergo a rigorous flight testing program, beginning in the fall. Engineers still need to finish building SpaceShipOne's successor, SpaceShipTwo, which is now about 70 percent complete, according to Virgin Galactic.

The mothership is a white, four-engine jet with room between its twin fuselages where SpaceShipTwo will be mounted for the flight to launch altitude. Virgin Galactic christened it Eve after Branson's mother, and the aircraft's side has a motif of a helmeted blond woman flying a Virgin flag.

White Knight Two has a 140-foot wingspan, about the same as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the World War II long-range heavy bomber. White Knight Two is designed to cradle SpaceShipTwo under its wing and release it at 50,000 feet in the air.

Once separated, SpaceShipTwo will fire its hybrid rocket and climb some 62 miles above Earth.

Matthew Upchurch, 46, who has reserved a future flight, said he felt goosebumps when he saw White Knight Two.

"It was very emotional for me," he said. "I thought, `Oh my God, we're getting closer."'

The mothership rollout also moved Rutan, who has made a career of designing unconventional aircraft.

"Even though this is a pretty weird airplane, we all expect it fly very well," said Rutan, who traded his usual leather jacket for a white button-down shirt with a Virgin Galactic logo.

Meanwhile, SpaceShipTwo, which is 70 percent complete, remained under wraps. It sat in a hangar several hundred feet away from White Knight Two shrouded in a black tarp. A sticker on it read "Coming Soon ... To A Spaceport Near You."

In the history of spaceflight, most astronauts have been in government programs. In recent years, a handful of wealthy people have paid about $20 million each to ride Russian rockets to the international space station.

Virgin Galactic envisions a future where space voyages will become as common as airplane travel. It wants to fly 500 people into space in the first year for $200,000 a head. If it succeeds, that would be on par with the same number of people who have gone up in 45 years of space travel.

So far, more than 250 wannabe astronauts have paid the full amount or put down a deposit to fly with Virgin Galactic, but when they will float in zero gravity is unknown. Rutan has declined to release a schedule. Virgin Galactic stopped predicting after it said in a 2004 press release that flights could begin in 2007.

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All About Manned Space Flight • Anousheh Ansari • Virgin Galactic Ltd.