Virgin Galactic astronauts

Ordinary husband and wife Mark and Christine Easterfield stand awkwardly with their Volvo car outside their large home near Cambridge, England. They are among the thousands of people who have each paid the $200,000 fare for seats on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space flights. Aboard the re-usable space vehicle will be 6 passengers, each of whom will have paid $200,000 for the 40 minute flight to 360,000 feet (109.73km, or 68.18 miles) and to experience just 6 minutes of weighlessness. Flights start around 2009/10 from a Mojave desert test facility but therafter, at the new Philippe Starck-designed SpacePort America, New Mexico, USA. a 27 square mile, $225 million headquarters and mission control facility near Las Cruces.

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Ordinary husband and wife Mark and Christine Easterfield stand awkwardly with their Volvo car outside their large home near Cambridge, England. They are among the thousands of people who have each paid the $200,000 fare for seats on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space flights. Aboard the re-usable space vehicle will be 6 passengers, each of whom will have paid $200,000 for the 40 minute flight to 360,000 feet (109.73km, or 68.18 miles) and to experience just 6 minutes of weighlessness. Flights start around 2009/10 from a Mojave desert test facility but therafter, at the new Philippe Starck-designed SpacePort America, New Mexico, USA. a 27 square mile, $225 million headquarters and mission control facility near Las Cruces.