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Branson unveils space tourism craft ‘WhiteKnightTwo’:

British tycoon Richard Branson on Monday unveiled a futuristic aircraft that will ferry tourists to the edge of heaven as part of Virgin Galactic’s much-anticipated space program. The aircraft — WhiteKnightTwo — was rolled out for invited guests and media at an early morning ceremony in the Mojave desert, north of Los Angeles, at the headquarters of aerospace firm Scaled Composites.

The high-altitude aircraft, also named “Eve” in honor of Branson’s mother, will act as the mothership for the spacecraft Spaceship Two, which in turn will launch in midair and send two crew and six passengers hurtling into space.

The first flights of WhiteKnightTwo are expected to take place later this year, with Spaceship Two being attached for a maiden flight sometime in 2009.

Trips will cost about $250,000 per person, so I think it’ll be quite a while before I can get a ride, but I believe that William Shatner and Stephen Hawking are among those who have already booked passage.