Bottom line: Do you have nearly half a million dollars to spare and a deep desire to travel to space? If so, Virgin Galactic is ready to do business. The space tourism company will open ticket sales to the general public on February 16 with an initial deposit of $150,000 to reserve your seat. Final payment is due before the flight.
Flights will launch from Spaceport America in New Mexico. Future astronauts will stay with their guests at forthcoming custom accommodations and experience several days of preparedness activities. Guests will enjoy world-class amenities and bespoke itineraries during astronaut training programs.
Flights will last approximately 90 minutes and consist of an air launch and Mach-3 boost to space. As the ship reaches its highest point, astronauts will experience several minutes of out-of-seat weightlessness and views of Earth from the ship's 17 windows that only this level of money can buy.
Share value in Virgin Galactic is up nearly 17 percent on the news as of this writing.
Virgin Galactic conducted its first fully crewed flight with founder Richard Branson onboard last July. Branson beat rival Jeff Bezos to space by nine days, as the Amazon CEO punched his ticket to space via his spaceflight company Blue Origin on July 20.
Interested parties can get a jump start on the application process over on Virgin Galactic's website. No word yet on when the first commercial flights are expected to take place.