Tourists still eager to take trip to space

By Leonard David

updated 3:41 p.m. ET July 3, 2007

GOLDEN, Colo. - After witnessing the initial surge of public interest in suborbital space tourism that followed the successful flight of the X Prize-winning SpaceShipOne three years ago, officials at Virgin Galactic thought the pace of paid reservations might slow down in 2007 — particularly since SpaceShipTwo is not slated to launch before late 2009 at the earliest.

They needn't have worried.

"In the last quarter, we have doubled the number of bookings taken on the same time last year," said Carolyn Wincer, head of Astronaut Sales for Virgin Galactic. Wincer told Space.com the company had thought that interest might drop for a while until the new spaceship was rolled out.

"However, this is not the case at all," she said. "As word gets around that you can make a reservation now, people are keen to secure a place. Even better, uptake is in line with our 'best-case scenario' from our original business plan ... meaning that the price point and estimates of interest that we projected ourselves, and based on market research, are so far proving to be correct."

So in the big picture, Wincer says the strong public interest is "good news for all space enthusiasts and for the industry as a whole!"

Initially, Virgin Galactic space flights will operate from the Mojave Spaceport in Mojave, California — home of Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites, the company that built SpaceShipOne and where SpaceShipTwo is now coming together.

The Spaceship Company, a joint venture announced in July 2005 between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites, has contracted Scaled Composites to design and build SpaceShipTwo and the carrier mothership WhiteKnight Two.

SpaceShipTwo is being designed to accommodate six passengers. It is scheduled to be unveiled before the end of 2007 and will be named Virgin SpaceShip Enterprise.

Virgin Galactic will own and operate at least five of the new spaceships and two motherships. The spaceline operator has established a set payment of $200,000 per seat, with a minimum refundable deposit of $20,000 to make a reservation.

Wincer said 200 customers from 30 different countries have already made deposits to confirm their reservations.

MORE FROM SPACE

Space Section Front

Cosmic Log: Cassini's closest encounter Space toilet goes on the fritz ... again! NASA to push ahead with Mars Lab launch Space millionaire confident ahead of liftoff Where have all the little Plutos gone? Cosmic Log: The plan to revive Hubble Interactive gallery: 8 great space telescopes High-speed crash makes hot, 'sterile' galaxies Planetarium entangled in politics   See fireworks on the final frontier Space Section Front   Add Space headlines to your news reader: