Branson aims for galaxy in his plane

– Richard Branson could shoot into space on his Virgin Galactic aircraft as its first passenger early next year, the company said, potentially blazing a path for commercial flights.

The company has repeatedly pushed back the date it will take the first tourists outside earth’s atmosphere and said 600 people have forked out $250 000 (about R4.3 million) to reserve a seat.

Virgin Galactic said it “expects to advance to the next phase of its test flight programme” in the European autumn with two manned flights.

“Assuming both flights demonstrate the expected results, Virgin Galactic anticipates Sir Richard Branson’s flight to occur in the first quarter of 2021,” the company said in a statement.

The ground-breaking flight by Branson – Virgin Galactic’s founder – would pave the way for commercial voyages to begin.

The programme has been hit by serious snags, however, with a devastating crash in 2014, caused by pilot error, delaying the development of passenger aircraft SpaceShipTwo.

Getting tourists into space is not a simple exercise. The spacecraft will be taken up by a special plane and released at high altitude. Seconds later, the spaceship – part plane, part rocket – will ignite its engine and blast upward with an acceleration of 3.5G, meaning three and a half times that of Earth’s gravitational force.

It will then cut off the engine, which will create a feeling of weightlessness as it reaches its highest point, about 80km above the planet, and begin its descent.

It will glide to land at Spaceport America, built in the New Mexico desert. – AFP