Virgin Galactic Testing Spaceship Next Year

Virgin Galactic plans to test run its spaceship next year.

Forget NASA. Apparently going commercial is the way to go if mankind wants to re-visit the moon, and that may very well be a possibility in the near future thanks to Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. If all goes well, the company's rocket-powered spaceship will successfully complete its first test flight in 2011, thus leading to a full-fledged space-bound service by 2015.

Unfortunately, there's no indication on when paying customers will actually get to fly into orbit. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn told attendees of a spaceflight conference in Dubai that all the major hurdles in the project have already been cleared. "As the year breaks into next year, we'll start moving into rocket motor testing and then into space," he said.

Even while there's no set date for the first official passenger flight, excited space travelers have already thrown down deposits to secure a seat, coughing up as much as $200,000 USD. Whitehorn said that the company has already received nearly 330 bookings, taking in approximately $45 million USD. He believes the company will be profitable within two years of starting operations.

Virgin Galactic is a branch of Virgin Group Ltd., founded by business tycoon Sir Richard Branson. In addition to commercial suborbital spaceflights, Virgin Galactic plans to offer services to launch satellites and conduct space science missions. Perhaps by the time Virgin Galactic gets the "airline" up and running, finally venturing out into space, Vulcans will have zipped through the solar system and caught wind of our rocket signature.