Virgin Galactic - White Knight 2

Virgin Galactic has unveiled the design of one of its new space-craft, and very dapper it is too. White Knight Two (WK2) is the mother-ship that will carry SpaceShip Two - the passenger vehicle for high-spending space tourists - into orbit. Currently about 60% finished, WK2 is claimed to be "environmentally benign" and is set to begin test flights in the summer of 2008. Whilst it has been designed to take people on star tours, it could in theory also be used to take satellites and other scientific payloads into orbit.

Meanwhile, eager spaceman Sir Richard Branson has recently completed a training simulation flight at America's National Aerospace Training and Research Center. Many of the first batch of paying customers have been trained up too.