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Virgin Galactic takes a step closer to commercial space race

In 2009, the year of astronomy, the total solar eclipse, the 40th anniversary of the original moonwalker, Neil Armstrong, and the 400th year since Italian physicist Galileo turned a telescope to look at the stars, Virgin Galactic's founder, Richard Branson will commit another world first when he crews his aerospace vehicle, the Virgin Mothership Eve (formerly known as WhiteKnightTwo) at the air show EAA Airventure Oshkosh 2009.

Eve will be showcased during a series of flights and airshows between July 27 and August 2, 2009 at EAA Airventure Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

There will no doubt be interest from the 200 customers who have put down their deposit of $US20,000, ten percent of the final cost for their sub orbital spaceflight on Virgin Galactic. Another 70,000 people from 125 countries have also registered interest to participate on a spaceflight.

Space Tourism
The $US200,000 price tag is expected to come down dramatically, as space tourism becomes popular just as airfares have come down since the first transatlantic flight. In 1939, a flight in today's dollars, cost approximately $US85,000 but now seventy years later, you can fly this distance for less than $US800.

Like aeroplane flights, space tourism has been growing over the last decade. Engineers and entrepreneurs have created companies that plan to launch satellites and science experiments, as well as tourists, into space. There's even a company designing an inflatable space hotel.

It is possible to orbit the Earth today, if you have around $US20 million. Over the past eight years, six people have paid this to go into space on a government spaceship.

If you had the chance, would you like to take a trip to space in your lifetime? Click here to share your views.

What do you get for the money?
First there are three days of pre-flight training on the ground at either the Mojave desert spaceport or the $US200 million Spaceport America that Virgin Galactic is building in New Mexico.

On the day of the flight, you with five other aspirational astronauts will climb into the spacecraft which is piggybacked on top of the mothership, a specially designed jet carrier. You will then take off like you would in a normal plane.

Lift off!
The mothership will climb to 50,000 feet (approximately 15 kilometres). A countdown will begin and at the end the space ship's rockets will accelerate with around 4G. In 30 seconds your personal read out will show a velocity of just under 2500 miles per hour, more than three times the speed of sound.

As you hurtle through the edges of the atmosphere you will witness the cobalt blue sky turning to mauve, indigo and finally to black. The rocket motor will be switched off and all will be quiet. According to the Virgin Galactic website:

"But it's not just quiet, it's QUIET. The silence of space is as awe inspiring as was the noise of the rocket just moments earlier. What's really getting your senses screaming now though, is that the gravity which has dominated every movement you've made since the day you were born is not there any more. There is no up and no down and you're out of your seat experiencing the freedom that even your dreams underestimated. After a graceful mid-space somersault you find yourself at a large window and what you see would make your hair stand on end if the zero gravity hadn't already achieved that effect.

You see that your fellow astronauts are equally spellbound, all lost in their own thoughts and storing away the memories."

Out of this world
Passengers will experience a type of virtual weightlessness as gravity starts pulling the craft back to earth. It will then be time to re enter the Earth's atmosphere. The heat generated upon reentry is one of the main safety issues that have made spaceflights difficult. Yet the Virgin Galactic innovation will be to fold up the wings of the spaceship so that the forces and heat of re-entry are greatly reduced.

This process allows the spaceship to enter the atmosphere at any angle and it will then self correct just like a shuttlecock does.

If all goes according to plan, the return to Earth will take around 30 minutes and the spaceship will touch down around two and a half hours after takeoff.

Get one step closer to the ultimate getaway!
Click here to find great airfares to the EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Win an out of this world trip to Space Mountain, Hong Kong We are giving one lucky Yahoo!7 reader and their partner a chance to experience an out of this world adventure in Hong Kong. Just READ an exciting extract of our space-inspired story. Then ENTER the competition and tell us what you think and you could win this space experience on planet Earth.