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British tycoon Richard Branson unveiled a futuristic aircraft on Monday that will enable common people like us to travel beyond the sky.

In front of a large media ghetto the tycoon unveiled WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) , the four-engine jet which would serve as mothership of SpaceShip 2. It was designed and built by Scaled Composites, the brainchild of engineer Burt Rutan, who made history in 2004 when his SpaceShipOne became the first private, manned craft to reach space. SpaceShipOne accomplished it with help from WK2’s smaller predecessor, White Knight.

The 140-feet-long mother ship is designed to tuck SpaceShipTwo under the centre of its wing and release it at 50,000 feet. After the separation, SpaceShipTwo will fire its hybrid rocket and climb 100 km above Earth – the internationally recognized boundary of space. The space-flight – up and back down without circling the Earth – will include about five minutes of weightlessness for the passengers. The total trip, from WK2’s take-off to SpaceShipTwo’s unpowered landing, will last about two and a half hours. With a maximum altitude of more than 50,000 feet, the craft will be able to support up to four daily spaceflights, the company added.

But the travel cost is hefty. A single trip would cost almost 85 lakh Rupees.