Sir Richard Branson in SpaceShipTwo's replica

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson sits in the replica model of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo during its unveiling of at the New York Wired NextFest at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Under construction by Burt Rutan in Mojave, California and looking more like a Stanley Kubrick movie set from '2001 A Space Odyssey,' than the future for everyday holidays, SpaceShipTwo is a re-usable orbiting vehicle that will become an important tool for Man's leisure time in space when affordable commercial space tourism starts in around 2009. Aboard the re-usable space vehicle will be 6 passengers, each of whom paying $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. From these circular portholes, astronauts will see 1,000 miles having taken off from the new Spaceport America, New Mexico.

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Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson sits in the replica model of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo during its unveiling of at the New York Wired NextFest at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Under construction by Burt Rutan in Mojave, California and looking more like a Stanley Kubrick movie set from '2001 A Space Odyssey,' than the future for everyday holidays, SpaceShipTwo is a re-usable orbiting vehicle that will become an important tool for Man's leisure time in space when affordable commercial space tourism starts in around 2009. Aboard the re-usable space vehicle will be 6 passengers, each of whom paying $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. From these circular portholes, astronauts will see 1,000 miles having taken off from the new Spaceport America, New Mexico.