Mock-up shows tourist way to space

Crucial to promoting Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic project is the mock-up currently on promotional tour

. Having already visited the Science Museum and Dubai, it is to be exhibited at the Leicester Space Centre from Wednesday August 1st until September 17th 2007. The original model of the interior was originally produced on a Hollywood movie set within a trailer. The current model, however, is mostly the work of Ogle Models and Prototypes. Under tight deadlines, Ogle remade all the porthole windows, through which the paying customers will expect to view the show of their journey. Ogle also sanded down and repainted the shell, removed and replaced the floor, repaired and repainted damage on the walls and corrected the fitting problems. Finally they re-sprayed the seats in soft-touch suede effect paint. The seats are fully reclinable. The plan for the real thing is that it is to carry up to eight people to sub-orbit the earth, experiencing zero gravity. Tickets are to be $200,000 each. For more information: www.virgingalactic.com