The VSS Enterprise is the first commercial spaceship being constructed for Virgin Galactic. It will also be the first ship of the SpaceShipTwo class, based on upscaling the design of SpaceShipOne. It was rolled out on December 7, 2009, with test flights beginning in late 2009 and commercial service starting in 2011, barring any problems in testing. The passenger-carrying commercial launches will initially occur at Virgin Galactic’s launch pad at Spaceport America, now under construction near Upham, New Mexico. The name is an acknowledgment to the USS Enterprise from the Star Trek television series.
Entrepreneur Richard Branson, head of the space tourism company Virgin Galactic, offered William Shatner, the actor who portrayed Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek series, a free ride into space on the inaugural space launch of the VSS Enterprise, with a retail value of $200,000. However, Shatner turned it down, and said, “I do want to go up but I need guarantees I’ll definitely come back.”
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