The lunar-like landscape of the Mojave desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas will stage the roll-out of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2), the brain child of aerospace engineer Burt Rutan.

SS2, which can carry six passengers and two pilots, plans to begin test flights next year and start commercial flights between 2011 and 2012.

Virgin Galactic, owned by Branson's Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments, says about 300 adventurers from around the world have paid a total of 40 million dollars in deposits to guarantee spots on the carbon composite wonder machine.


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