Countdown is on as Virgin Galactic prepares for First Space Tourists

Countdown is on as Virgin Galactic prepares for First Space Tourists 

State of the art: Space tourists will travel in Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo

I am in the wilds of New Mexico standing on the threshold of history. To reach this spot, we have driven through mile after mile of scrubland lined with purple sage, bounced over rough roads and passed just a couple of ramshackle ranch houses. On the way, our guide pointed out buffalo on the horizon and the sites of Pueblo Indian archaeological digs.When we finally stopped and got out of the car, there was silence apart from the low moan of the wind. Almost everywhere in America, you see and hear aircraft passing overhead. But here there was only the occasional hawk making lazy circles in the sky.Gazing up, there was just a stray, wispy high cloud to interrupt the vivid blueness.

Countdown is on as Virgin Galactic prepares for First Space Tourists 

Virgin territory: The Spaceport America from where Virgin Galactic will operate flights

After negotiating the elaborate security measures at the entrance gate, we suddenly found ourselves in front of a brand new but so far unused building. At first glance it had the glitzy look of a Ferrari showroom or an expensive boutique hotel.

This wonderful structure - designed by British architects and built at a cost of £250 million - is here for one purpose only: to process fare-paying space travellers. These will not be Nasa astronauts with degrees in astrophysics, Top Gun pilots trained to handle G-forces or research scientists ready to cope with life in zero gravity. In little more than a year perhaps, this sleek building will be welcoming ordinary people keen to travel into space. No PhDs or heads for heights are required - just a desire to slip the surly bonds of Earth, to borrow a famous phrase, to touch the face of God.

Although degrees aren't needed, pots of money are. These fare-paying Virgin Galactic space travellers may well find that the journey is the ride of their lives - but it won't come cheap. Anyone turning up at Spaceport America to board a spaceship will need a few hundred thousand pounds to spare for a trip that will last a total of two hours but will offer a zero-gravity experience for just over six minutes.

We have been anticipating the beginning of this new era in travel ever since Sir Richard Branson launched Virgin Galactic in 2004 with the promise of sub-orbital space travel.

At the time, those who signed up for the first flights and lodged their £12,000 deposits did so knowing full well that not only were these epoch-making space rides likely to take place far, far into the future, but that given the strictness of US safety regulations, there was every chance the journeys would not happen at all.Read more>>

Countdown is on as Virgin Galactic prepares for First Space Tourists 

High-flier: Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson

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