Branson’s spaceship steals Farnborough spotlight

British tycoon Richard Branson stole the show here on Wednesday, announcing that he and his family would be on Virgin Galactic’s first trip into space, as Airbus and Boeing eked out more plane orders. Branson was showcasing a full size mock-up of his SpaceShipTwo (SS2) aircraft at the biennial Farnborough airshow near London — a key event in the aviation sector calendar that typically sees planemakers Airbus and Boeing battle for orders. “Obviously this is the most exciting adventure I have ever undertaken,” said Branson, founder of the Virgin Galactic space programme. “It’s both an entrepreneurial and personal adventure in being able to build a spaceship and ask my [two adult] children to come along.”In all, 529 people have signed up for the 96-kilometre, two-hour ride into space, at a cost of £128,000 (Dh730,000) each. Around 120 of them were at the Branson event in Farnborough. Actor Ashton Kutcher and scientist Stephen Hawking are among the aspiring astronauts who have signed up to the programme that gets under way in late 2013 to early 2014, according to the Virgin empire head. Irish businessman and author Bill Cullen, 70, was the first to sign up for a trip, in 2004. “I wanted to be the first Irishman in space and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I’ve been interested in space ever since I followed comic hero Dan Dare when I was a kid.” The WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) aircraft that will help launch SS2 into space will also be used for a new launch vehicle, LauncherOne, which will take small satellites into space for around one tenth of the present cost, Branson said. He addressed media on the third day of the week-long Farnborough show which has featured contract announcements for civilian and military planes alongside fly-pasts. Amid a weak global economy and government cutbacks, the 2012 event has been more subdued compared with recent years. from gulfnews.com