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Sir Richard Branson - Source: Supplied -
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Richard Branson has announced Virgin Galactic will be making its first commercial flights from early 2013.
Founder Branson said the company will be ready to take flights into space from December next year, he and his family will be among the first passengers.
In preparation for the flights Branson opened the world's first built-from-scratch commercial spaceport in New Mexico yesterday.
"We're ticking the final boxes on the way to space," Branson said at the ceremony.
Of the 450 people who have already bought tickets to fly with Virgin Galatic, around 150 attended the opening of the spaceport.
According to the eccentric billionaire, Virgin Galactic will take more passengers into space in its first year of operation than NASA and the Russian space programme had in the last 50 years.
Branson also revealed plans for a space hotel, but did not
provide a timeframe for construction.
