The future tourist spaceship flies solo for the first time - CNN

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Successful completion
• first weightless flight for tourists in Europe

Five minutes weightless

• by 5,980 euros
• Richard Branson will be the first passenger in space tourism project
• space tourism, closer
• suborbital flights between continents
• first space tourism spacecraft makes its maiden flight

Los Angeles, April 29 (dpa) – The SpaceShip Two , the first spacecraft built to carry tourists to space, completed successfully on Monday its first flight to test your engine and could be ready to go into space later this year, the company Virgin Galactic .

During the flight of SpaceShip Two ten minutes broke the sound barrier and reached a speed of 1.2 mach.

“The first powered flight of Virgin Spaceship Enterprise was undoubtedly our most important test flight to date,” said Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson .

“Success supersonic today begins the way for a rapid expansion” of space flight, “with a very realistic goal of making space travel by year’s end.”

The aircraft is designed for suborbital flights with two crew members and six passengers, who will experience weightlessness and see the Earth from the blackness of space.

SpaceShip Two was released today from an aircraft carrier from a height of 14,300 meters and fired its engine for 16 seconds, before landing at the base of Virgin Galactic in the Mojave Desert in Southern California.

The company agreed to more than $ 70 million in deposits from about 580 potential passengers, equivalent to about ten percent more than the number of people who ever went into space.

The newspaper

The Wall Street Journal , Virgin Galactic invested in the project so far over 350 million dollars.