Here is a comparison between the size of the 60-foot-long SpaceShipTwo and its predecessor, SpaceShipOne.
Both are products of SpaceShip, a joint venture between Branson's Virgin Group and Rutan's Scaled Composites. SpaceShipTwo will carry two pilots and six passengers; the Virgin Group has already ordered five of them.
SpaceShipTwo has a 42-foot wingspan and a tail height of 15 feet. It's covered in windows with 18-inch diameters so that Virgin Galactic travelers will be able to have a full view of space and the Earth below them as they experience zero gravity. They've paid $200,000 for between four and five minutes of weightlessness, so they'd better have a darned good view.
The original SpaceShipOne, which flew to space three times in 2004, is now on display in the Milestones of Flight Gallery at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Photo by Virgin Galactic
