First Look at Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo : Big Pic
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Dec. 7, 2009 -- After two years of construction, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo has been shown to the public for the first time. The first of a planned fleet of six SpaceShipTwo's has been named Virgin Space Ship (VSS) Enterprise.
The unveiling ceremony took place in California's Mojave Desert, at the base of legendary designer Burt Rutan and his company Scaled Composites. Rutan has revolutionized carbon composite aircraft and in light of his SpaceShipOne prototype winning the Ansari X PRIZE in 2004, British entrepreneur Richard Branson teamed up with Rutan so Scaled Composites could build the first passenger spacecraft to carry fee-paying space tourists 65 miles into the atmosphere.
SpaceShipTwo is on schedule for its first test flights in 2010 and it is hoped that the first Virgin Galactic passengers will be carried on a suborbital trip in 2011. There are also hopes that development of space tourism technologies will stimulate the commercial aerospace industry.
Image: VSS Enterprise stowed under the dual-hulled Virgin Mother Ship (VMS) Eve at the unveiling of the first SpaceShipTwo in the Mojave Desert (Virgin Galactic)
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