It looks like there is truth to the rumors of a “SpaceShipTwo” in the works at Scaled Composites: Branson promises to send tourists into space by 2007
Sir Richard said: “Because space travel has been run by the Government and not by entrepreneurial individuals, it hasn’t really moved forward.
“Billions of dollars have been wasted in grandiose projects that have not achieved a lot. Now private enterprise is getting interested and I think that in my lifetime we may be able to go to the next phase of hotels in space and possibly going to the moon.”
He added: “We’ve already had plenty of calls from people who have heard about this. Most people would love to go to space.”
David Learmount, the operations and safety editor of Flight International magazine, said: “This is just the kind of thing Branson absolutely loves, because it gets him maximum publicity. But the technology is there and well tested – it’s plausible.”
As Rand Simberg notes, the giggle factor continues to erode. Why, the next thing you know, someone will be putting up a privately-built space hotel…