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Passengers on board the world's first tourist spaceship (Pic: PA)
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Travellers fed up with congested roads and packed public transport were offered a glimpse today of an out-of-this-world experience - the prospect of the first tourist spaceship.
A mock-up cabin of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo went on display in the Science Museum in central London, giving visitors a taste of what life among the stars will be like for the first recreational astronauts.
The space ship is set to be unveiled at the end of this year in the Mojave Desert in California with a test flight programme beginning next year.
The project organisers say the first commercial flights could take place as early as 2009.
The space ship, which is about the same size as an executive jet, will carry six passengers and two pilots.
It will be taken by a "mother ship" - a purpose-built aeroplane - into the lower atmosphere before it is propelled by hybrid rocket motor into space.
Susan Newsam, head of marketing production for Virgin Galactic, said: "It will be amazing, you will see the beautiful curvature of the earth and the black sky and you will be able to see a thousand miles in each direction out of the windows.
"You will have a fantastic view, we are maximising the opportunity because we have windows in the floor and also in the ceiling."
But the cost of such transport will exceed the price of any annual bus pass, road tax, or even rail fares, with a projected price tag of £100,000 per traveller.
Space tourists will also be expected to undertake three days of preparation along with medical checks before they set off in order to accustom themselves to the experience of weightlessness and the impact of G-forces.
So far 200 people have signed up and paid their deposits for the two-hour flight.
The company hopes to fly up to 500 people in the first year of operation with up to 50,000 flying within a decade.
The flight will last around two hours, of which just four or five minutes will be in zero gravity.
The prototype cabin will be on display at the Science Museum from today until February 23.
