Sir Richard Branson is due to unveil a craft that could soon carry tourists into space - for a mere £125,000 (NZ$288,000)
The lunar-like landscape of western USA's Mojave desert will stage the Virgin Galactic launch later this afternoon.
The group's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is the brainchild of aerospace engineer Burt Rutan.
SS2, which can carry six passengers and two pilots, is scheduled to begin test flights next year and start commercial flights between 2011 and 2012.
For the launch, the WhiteKnightTwo mothership will carry the smaller SS2 ship 50,000 feet into the sky, before it detaches and blasts up to the brink of space.
There, the tourists can experience five minutes of weightlessness in a cabin with circular windows on the sides and the ceiling.
Virgin Galactic, owned by Branson's Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments, says about 300 adventurers from around the world have paid a total of £24.4 million (NZ$56.3m) to guarantee spots on the carbon composite craft.
Virgin Galactic has appointed 'Space Agents' across the world to take bookings for the journey 62 miles above Earth.
The group have already begun work on a purpose-built 'Spaceport' in New Mexico, from where the suborbital flights will depart.
For now, space tourism remains an exclusive experience, reserved for those willing to pay the hefty fee for a seat on the two and a half hour flights.
But Charles Chafer, chief executive of Space Services, which specialises in space funerals, says that will change with time.
"Just like aviation, first a few will go to space, but over the next hundred years or so, spaceflight will become commonplace," he said.
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