One more sign that the "giggle factor" is disappearing from space tourism. Richard Branson has been toying with the industry for years, but it looks as though he's finally ready to make his move. I'll be interested to see if Jeff Bezos does anything publicly in response.

Wow! So he's saying they're prepared to buy some of Burt's SS1's and start flying tourists. Great news!

The potential media and marketing angles make this a WIN-WIN for everyone.

Selling tickets for sub-orbital is cool, but the real profits will be in the promotion of brand identity.

High-profile public spotlight types like Branson are the perfect investor for this industry.

PS - - A Virgin Airlines "frequent flyer" mileage award is only one ideal marketing spin-off.

Sounds like with 5 passengers per flight, it might be a slightly enlarged version of the SS1, but yah -- this is so damned cool, I can't stand it.

Yes, wonderful. I got a laugh out of the "VSS Enterprise" bit, with the irony that this would be a private spacecraft.

At $200,000 a ticket those seats aren't particularly cheap. Factor a 200 pound person, that's $1000/lb. For a suborbital, that can't be a good value. (Of course, Virgin is making up the playbook here).

The key thing is for someone to get into the business and make decent money at it. Once it is established, expect the price to come down. Also, by the time they get around to it, they may be forced to adjust the price a bit.

The key thing is for someone to get into the business and make decent money at it.

The best way to "make decent money at it" is to use suborbital to hype other business ventures, meaning marketing. Branson - - a marketing wizard - - can use this to sell seats on Virgin Airlines and pursue the ideal target market, business travellers.

Sell a few seats at $200K? Sure and make a few shekels.

Offer a "free" ride for 500,000 frequent flyer miles? Continue to distinguish Virgin as the "coolest" airline around? Now that will generate real return on investment.

IMHO, the photo ops of SS1 with the Virgin logo on the twin tails are worth far more to Branson (in $$$) than any actual revenue.

Ooops, slipped a few decimals. Try 5 million or 50 million frequent flyer miles.

If SS-2 seats 3 passengers, I then suggest a Virgin Airlines lottery. Pay Chuck Yeager (for example) to sit in one of the seats and hold a 12 month lottery where every mile flown on Virgin equals one lottery ticket. Winner gets two seats into space, with Chuck Yeager.

That would sell thousands and thousands of seats and generate far more than $400,000 in revenue for Branson.

Well, I'd expect that Virgin would be offering a full package for the £115,000 - Upper Class flight to Vegas, good hotel package, limo to Mojave etc...

Best make it 5 million+ airmiles, 500,000 isn't too hard for a frequent business traveller.

Maybe so. I'm not sure everyone will want to undergo SpaceCampTwo for a three hour ride. In the end, VirginGalactic's high prices will make it even more possible for SpaceAdventures to sell seats on Xerus and the C21 at half the price.

Jonathon - If Virgin Galatic is smart, they will charge $200K until Xerus comes online to skim off the first users and repay Paul Allen's investment.

Then . . . undercut the Xerus price by 5% having the proceeds from the $200K tickets safely in the bank.

If suborbital follows the airline paradigm, anticipate a few winners and several bankruptcies.