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Space tourism: New mothership to be unveiled Monday
| Thursday, Jul 24 2008 5:36 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jul 25 2008 9:13 AM
British billionaire Sir Richard Branson and other dignitaries will roll out WhiteKnightTwo, the mothership that will take a commercial vehicle into space, at the Mojave Air and Space Port on Monday.
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Richard Branson, left, and aerospace designer Burt Rutan unveil a model of SpaceShipTwo, right, during a news conference Jan. 23 in New York. At top is a model of White Knight Two, the mothership for SpaceShipTwo.
The White Knight turbojet aircraft climbs over the Mojave Desert with SpaceShipOne attached below.
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Flight tests for WhiteKnightTwo may begin this fall and could take a year to 18 months to complete.
Branson’s venture, Virgin Galactic, in partnership with Scaled Composites, founded by Burt Rutan, will offer space tourism to travelers who can afford six figures for the ride.
According to Virgin Galactic, WhiteKnightTwo would reach an altitude of 50,000 feet. At that point, SpaceShipTwo would be released, and that craft would take passengers up to 360,000 feet.