After multiple delays, Virgin Galactic's first space tourism flight out of New Mexico's Spaceport America has been pushed back once again.
Richard Branson's company had previously announced a timeline that showed the first flight starting by the end of 2014. That was only the latest in a series of planned launch dates going back to 2004, when Virgin Galactic said it planned to launch space flights by 2007.
Nevertheless, Branson told David Letterman this week he hopes to take the first flight early next spring.
The company has spent years working to overcome challenges developing its craft, SpaceShipTwo, and the plane that will help deliver it to orbit, the WhiteKnightTwo. When New Mexico agreed to build the quarter-billion-dollar spaceport with Virgin Galactic as an anchor tenant, officials predicted flights would start in 2011.
The economic implications of the continual delays are bleak, but Virgin Galactic officials say they are emphasizing safety over meeting timelines.
"Customers are eager to fly, but they know we'll fly them when we feel ready," Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said Wednesday. "Obviously we want to do it as quickly as possible, but we don't want to rush it."
The price of a ticket to low earth orbit? $250,000 per person. The company says more than 700 people have signed up for the trip.
Branson discussed what a trip would include on Letterman: "You'll know you're in space cause when you unbuckle you'll just drift."
On Wednesday, Virgin brought the WhiteKnightTwo "mothership" to the spaceport for test flights. The aircraft will deliver its rocket-powered spacecraft to 50,000 feet, where it will launch into space.
Whitesides called the craft's visit to New Mexico a "critical milestone on our path to operations from Spaceport America." Most of the company's testing and operations are in the Mojave Desert, where the original White Knight helped SpaceShipOne become the first commercial spacecraft in 2004.
"I think you'll see a lot more of these milestones coming over the next several months,"
