KEY POINTS:
Two New Zealanders who hope to become the first Kiwis in space were in New York last week for the unveiling of Virgin Galactic's launch system.
Christchurch real estate agent Jackie Maw and businessman Mark Rocket, a space enthusiast who changed his name by deed poll, have bought
$280,000 tickets on one of British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson's space journeys, scheduled for late next year or early 2010.
The three-hour trip will take them 112km above the earth.
Established in 2005, Virgin Galactic successfully launched its SpaceShipOne craft into space in 2004, winning the $10m Ansari X prize for the first non-government organisation to launch a reusable manned space craft into space twice within two weeks.
With SpaceShipTwo and its "mothership" launch vehicle, White Knight Two nearing completion at the Scaled Composites plant in California, more than 200 people worldwide have signed up and paid deposits for space trips.
Ms Maw said the seriousness of the project hit home to her at the design unveiling in New York.
"It is not just about sending passengers into space as a commercial venture," she said in a statement today.
"While that is part of it, we are in effect a source of capital which is enabling developments and exploration which will change our world."
Ms Maw, who has already completed an astronaut training course at the National Aerospace Training and Research (Nastar) centre in Philadelphia, said it was "incredibly motivating and exciting" to know those involved were part of that exploration.
Mr Rocket, co-director of Rocket Lab, a company that hopes to put New Zealand's first rocket into space this year, was the first New Zealander to buy a Virgin Galactic ticket.
He classifies himself as a "space industry participant" as well as a Virgin Galactic founding passenger and said he was equally motivated by the unveiling and what it meant long-term.
The first 100 people to sign up and pay for their future flights were invited to the New York unveiling - a media event and cocktail party covered by 30 television channels.
Mr Rocket said while predominantly from the United States and Britain, people were there from all over the world, including small places such as Estonia and Morocco.
Coming from New Zealand "attracted interest, but was not seen as out of the ordinary", he said.
- NZPA