Richard Branson decides to ship all of the rich people to space

That's right folks, today Virgin Galactic unveiled its commercial space craft. Virgin is reporting that they already have 300 passengers who have paid the $200,000 fee (or some part of it) and plan to have the first mission ready for launch by or during 2011.

The ship - or pairing of two ships as it is - shoots up to 50,000 feet, a smaller piece detaches which then rockets the passengers further in to space. The smaller vessel can hold 6 passengers and 2 pilots.

Rich buffoonery aside, Virgin Galactic estimates that 12,500 jobs have been created by new commercial space travel companies and that their staff will grow past 1100 people by the time of the first launch.

Between now and 2011, they test and test and test again.