Nothing is for free and commercial space flight not even, while commercial programme is extremely expensive. Until now the space exploration was funded by states, which took the money for it mainly from the taxes of their citizens without the necessity to ask for them. But commercial companies try to show, that voluntary funding from the customers can also feed the space programme. There is Paul Allen behind the success of SpaceShipOne, who is the co-founder of Microsoft, but who invests also into many other branches, mainly film (DreamWorks Animation SKG), financial markets, sports clubs, etc. According to the estimations he is the fifth richest citizen of the USA with the property of about 18 billion USD. All his branches are based on attracting mass interest to some "spectacle" and collecting the admission fee, selling of mass software, etc., which are the branches by that the americans can impress really much.

The important flight and space constructor focused on composite materials is Burt Rutan, who stands behind many world-known projects, commercial as well as for NASA, for example. In 2001 Paul Allen came to him and decided to fund the development of a light spaceship, that would be able to get over the space frontier, which is 100 km from the Earth's surface and could get the the Ansari X prize for the first private company, able to do this. They really succeded in 2004.

The goal of this is also clear. The space can attract the masses only by its mystery. And what if there is the possibility to look there at least for a while? The richest people of the world bored by Earth's joys will definitely want to offer much for such an experience. It is shown also by the big popularity of the flights to the ISS, which are offered by the Russians for 20 million USD.

Paul Allen has founded "The Spaceship Company" and joined with Richard Branson, who owns the Virgin imperium, where also the Virgin Atlantic airline company belongs. Based on this experience they have found a common company Virgin Galactic, which should offer the first private space flights in the mankind history. Of course, the goal is to attract mass interest for the space flight and begin the era of space tourism. But of course, we are not talking about orbital flights that could be compared to those to the ISS, which are offered by Russia. SpaceShip is able to reach the space frontier only, try out the zero G and look at the Earth form its boundary. So it is all about offering a great experience to the people who can afford it and finance next commercial exploration from it. But because Virgin belongs to the lowcost airlines we cannot rule out, that there might be also some cheap air tickets.

The main emphasis when constructing the SpaceShipTwo was on the safety. It is logical, because any accident could discourage many potential customers. The space ship was disclosed on 23rd January 2008 and in maximum 18 months commercial flights should be available.

The start of test flights is planned for summer 2008, when WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo should be finally completed. WhiteKnightTwo is propelled by four engines Pratt and Whitney PW308A and it is planned to be able to carry out also small satellites to low Earth's orbit. SpaceShipTwo is constructed for eight people. There are only models available until now, see the snap shots below. On one of them, there is Richard Branson (left) with Burt Rutan there. The course of the flight with the passengers is also already known in detail, everything can be found directly on Virgin Galactic site, see the links below.

SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo

SpaceShipOne and WhiteKnight