Virgin Galactic to send tourists into space in 2013

The American company "Virgin Galactic", whose headquarters is located in Las Cruces (New Mexico), will perform periodic suborbital and orbital space flights for tourists in 2013, according to tour-compas.ru. Until the end of the year in the vacuum of space must pass the test flight spacecraft SpaceShipTwo. Ground and flight tests in the atmosphere resulted in a satisfactory, told a senior test pilot David McKay Company.

The ship has made more than 30 SpaceShipTwo flights within the atmosphere. Representatives of the "Virgin Galactic" does not exclude that in the event of unforeseen circumstances during the upcoming test can delay the start of spacecraft in order to travel.
"There will be extra-atmospheric tests of the SpaceShipTwo rocket mounted on the engine" - elaborated on McKay. According to him, the launch vehicle with the tourists on board is planned for the second half of 2013.

Meanwhile, the "Virgin Galactic" is already actively pursuing tickets for tourist space flights among the millionaires. The cost of a tourist destination - 200 000 dollars clients paid for 200 tickets and booked another 300. On board the spacecraft may be two pilots and six passengers.