With the first journalist allowed inside Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, the public has been given a sneak peek at the world’s only commercial spacecraft, reports Le Blog Luxe.
As seen in this video, BBC reporter Richard Scott took a camera crew out to the hangar in the Mojave Desert in order to see the craft that is still under construction.
Virgin Galactic expects to start operations in 2013, when it will carry its first load of paying passengers outside the earth’s atmosphere. Once there, travelers will be treated to about five minutes of weightlessness and silence in the vacuum of space before the ship makes its return to earth.
A seat aboard the six-passenger spacecraft will cost just under $200,000, and over 400 people have already paid a deposit to reserve their spot in line.
"Seeing a new vehicle that will someday be taking commercial passengers into space, and allowing the population at large to experience space travel, is just tremendously exciting," Pete Siebold, a test pilot with the project, told the BBC.