Elegant Resorts partner with Virgin Galactic to make Space Travel a reality

    /24-7PressRelease/ - August 21, 2008 - Space travel will become reality for people from all walks of life when Virgin Galactic launches its public flights into space. Elegant Resorts are the only company appointed by Virgin Galactic to sell this unique experience in the UK, Russia and CIS.

Justine Pitt, Product Manager at Elegant Resorts, commented: "We have already experienced some amazing firsts with Virgin Galactic since our appointment last July, enabling us to give our clients first-hand knowledge of the whole Virgin Galactic Experience - including a simulated trip into space in the NASTAR Center's Space Training Centrifugal Simulator where we achieved G-forces upwards of 3G's, a private unveiling of the spacecraft models in New York back in January with Richard Branson and Burt Rutan, and now the unveiling of EVE".

The rollout represents another major milestone in Virgin Galactic's quest to launch the world's first private, environmentally benign, space access system for people, payload and science. Christened "EVE" in honour of Sir Richard's mother, who performed the official naming ceremony, WK2 is both visually remarkable and represents ground-breaking aerospace technology. It is the world's largest all carbon composite aircraft and many of its component parts have been built using composite materials for the very first time. At 140 ft, the wing span is the longest single carbon composite aviation component ever manufactured.

WK2 will be able to support up to four daily space flights, is able to carry out both day and night time operations and is equipped with a package of highly advanced avionics.

Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Galactic added: "As usual, Burt and the Scaled team have created a beauty and this is a very proud day for us all. The rollout of WhiteKnightTwo takes the Virgin Galactic vision to the next level and continues to provide tangible evidence that this most ambitious of projects is not only for real but is making tremendous progress towards our goal of safe commercial operation. We are naming it EVE after my Mother, Eve Branson but also because it represents a first and a new beginning, the chance for our ever growing group of future astronauts and other scientists and payload specialists to see our world in a completely new light. I for one can't wait!"

Elegant Resorts is Virgin Galactic's only Accredited Space Travel Agent for the UK. The Elegant Resorts Space Team are taking bookings on 01244 897 003 and have already confirmed a number of seats to date. For more information you may wish to visit www.elegantresorts.co.uk.

About Elegant Resorts

Elegant Resorts offer holidays and travel of unparalelled luxury.

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