This is more than just “geeky cool.” Check out the listing for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip 2, the VSS Enterprise. I got to witness the unveiling of one of the top 10 newsmakers in this decade!

Commercial Spacecrafts Prepare to Take Flight: Amidst NASA budget cuts, commercial spaceflight has come to the forefront. The Ansari X Prize, first offered in 1996 for the first private enterprise that could fly a three-passenger vehicle 100 kilometers into space twice in one week. In 2004, the prize was finally won by Mojave Aerospace Ventures’ SpaceShipOne. That same year, Virgin Galactic was founded to further space tourism. The company recently unveiled SpaceShipTwo, the first commercial spacecraft. 2004 also saw the certification of the Mojave Air and Space Port, the first licensed facility for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft in the US. In anticipation of the spaceflight business, one company claims it’s readying a space hotel.

Read Lauren Davis’s complete story: http://io9.com/5430073/ten-science-stories-that-changed-our-decade#

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