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 The rollout of the gleaming craft, dubbed Virgin Space Ship Unity,
marks Branson’s return to a race among rival billionaire
entrepreneurs to develop a vehicle that can take thrill-seekers,
researchers and commercial customers on short hops into space.
"It's almost too good to be true," Branson said during a ceremony at
the Mojave Air and Space Port, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Los
Angeles. "When I saw it for the first time, it brought an immediate
lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. It was a completely
overwhelming moment."
Christened with a bottle of milk by Branson's year-old
granddaughter, the ship was painted bright white on its front
section, fading to gray and black toward the tail.
The tail itself was emblazoned with a blue image of a peering eye
belonging to famed British physicist Stephen Hawking.
 Branson has already offered a flight into space to Hawking, who is
confined to a wheelchair and suffers from amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis, or ALS. It was Hawking who suggested naming the ship
Unity.
"I have always dreamed of spaceflight, but for so many years I
thought it was just that – a dream," Hawking said in a recorded
message played at the space port. "If I am able to go, and if
Richard will still take me, I will be proud to fly on this
spaceship."
From outward appearances, the spacecraft is nearly identical to the
one lost on Oct. 31, 2014. The accident was blamed on pilot error
and oversights by Northrop Gumman Corp's <NOC.N> Scaled Composites
division, which designed, built and tested the vehicle, known as
SpaceShipTwo.
Virgin Galactic’s own manufacturing arm, The Spaceship Company,
already was well into construction of the successor ship when the
accident occurred.
The biggest difference between the two is the addition of a pin to
prevent a pilot from unlocking the ship’s rotating tail section too
soon before descent, which is what triggered the breakup of the
first spaceship, said Galactic Chief Executive George Whitesides.
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The two-pilot, six-passenger spaceship is designed to reach
altitudes of 62 miles (100 km) above the planet, providing a few
minutes of weightlessness and a view of Earth set against the
blackness of space. Nearly 700 people have signed up for rides,
which cost $250,000 each.
Other changes include a device to prevent pilots from releasing the
ship’s landing gear too early and new control switches to make them
more distinct.
Friday’s unveiling set the stage for Unity's first round of test
flights. The company has declined to discuss a schedule, but
Whitesides said he expects to rapidly repeat milestones the first
craft achieved and then incrementally test the new ship at higher
speeds and altitudes. The first spaceship had not yet traveled
beyond the atmosphere.
Virgin Galactic is among a handful of companies, including Elon
Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch
Systems and Boeing <BA.N>, planning to fly people in space.
Building a vehicle that can safely carry humans to the weightless
heights beyond Earth's upper atmosphere is a feat so far achieved
only by NASA, Russia, China and Scaled Composites, which designed
and flew Virgin Galactic's prototype craft, SpaceShipOne.
Three suborbital hops by SpaceShipOne in 2004 earned it the $10
million Ansari XPrize.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Steve Gorman and Tom Brown)
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