A real starship called Enterprise

IN THE 1960s Pan Am, an American airline, set up a waiting list for people hoping to fly to the moon. Such was the interest that 80,000 people signed up. In the end, Pan Am died before the space dream did. So when a firm called Virgin Galactic announced in 2004 that it was planning commercial space flights there was, not surprisingly, some scepticism. Cynics thought it was all a publicity stunt by the Virgin Group of companies and its flamboyant British boss, Sir Richard Branson. But on December 7th at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, Virgin Galactic unveiled its first commercial spaceship, the VSS Enterprise. This is a reusable craft made of composite material, 18 metres (60 feet) long and capable of taking six passengers and two pilots briefly into space before gliding back down to land. Initially such trips will cost $200,000 per person.