New Mexico L.O.W.F.I

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The wraps are coming off a privately financed spacecraft designed to fly passengers into space.

Virgin Galactic plans to roll out SpaceShipTwo on Monday in what a company spokeswoman says will be a “theatrical” unveiling in the Mojave Desert. It will be attended by hundreds of potential space tourists, dignitaries and other VIPs.

SpaceShipTwo is the commercial version of SpaceShipOne. In 2004, SpaceShipOne, designed by Burt Rutan, became the first private manned craft to reach space.

The first SpaceShipTwo test flights are expected to start next year from New Mexico’s Spaceport America. It’s unclear when the first customers will go into space.

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