Virgin Galactic Preparing for First Commercial Space Flight

Virgin Galactic, the non-governmental space agency started by Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Atlantic and other enterprises, is continuing with preparations for its first commercial venture into space. Branson himself, along with his two children will be among the first to climb aboard SpaceShipTwo, quietly dubbed Enterpirse in honor of the famous ship from the Star Trek series. Though the company remains tightlipped about an actual launch date, Branson has said, in an interview with the New York Times, that he expects the first trip to occur sometime before Christmas this year.

What's perhaps most promising was the dedication of Spaceport America in a remote part of New Mexico this past October, an event documented by Wired Magazine, which featured Branson and his children rappelling down the front face of the new hanger building and a guest appearance by the Governor of New Mexico, Susan Martinez.

The program has also been bolstered by the announcement that White Knight II, the special airplane that will be carrying SpaceShipTwo aloft will also be working on projects with NASA over the next couple of years.

The journey to get to this point has not been without its setbacks, paying customers have been waiting in line since 2007, fully convinced each year that they would be going aloft, only to have the launch date pushed back again and again as problems with the space craft were hammered out. But that has only been part of the problem, the other part has been working with governmental agencies, as noted by the Wall Street Journal, to hammer out the details of commercial spaceflight, which will ultimately benefit not just Virgin Galactic, but others that are readying craft of their own in preparation for commercial spaceflights of their own.

All of that hammering out has led to set procedures being put in place, such as a requirement that space carriers offer some degree of pre-flight training, and multiple avenues of booking. Virgin Galactic allows prospective passengers to book directly via its website, or through one of its four booking agents. And that's not all, passengers must also be offered travel insurance just as they would be were they to fly anywhere else, and as the Times reports, that part of the package is just about ready to be completed as well.

After that, it'll be up to the passengers to pay their fee, a cool $200,00, prepare themselves mentally and physically, then hop aboard when given the all clear. By all indications, it should be a spectacular ride.