Virgin Galactic owner Richard Branson says his company might soon be ready to take civilians into space.
"We have a fantastic team, and I'm not going to say any dates ... but we're on the verge," Branson said of his plans to transport civilians on Virgin Galactic.
Branson made the comments on a webcast commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the Ansari X Prize victory. The legendary SpaceShipOne spacecraft became the first spacecraft not operated by a government team to leave Earth's atmosphere. The prize was part of the motivation; the Burt Rutan-designed SpaceShipOne made it into the history books, but it also won a $10 million award.
Rutan is also known for designing the Voyager plane, which was the first airplane to fly around the world without landing or requiring a refuel.
Commercial civilian spaceflight was previously planned to start as early as 2007, but Branson acknowledges that it's a greater challenge than he had realized. When trips do begin, passengers will fly aboard SpaceShipTwo, SpaceShipOne's successor. Tickets don't come cheap -- priced at $250,000 -- but Virgin has already sold 700 tickets for the first civilians to ever go to space with a private company.
SpaceShipTwo has completed 31 successful test flights this year.
