Sir Richard Branson unveils Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo in the race to send people to space

SIR Richard Branson is to unveil the new Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo in the next few hours in the race to be the first to send passengers into space.

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2013, file photo, British entrepreneur Richard Branson poses with the first SpaceShipTwo at a Virgin Galactic hangar at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, Calif. Virgin Galactic will roll out a new copy of its space tourism rocket Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, as it prepares to resume flight testing for the first time since a 2014 accident destroyed the original and killed one of its two pilots. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

SIR Richard Branson is set to unveil the new Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo as the company pushes ahead in the race to send passengers into space.

Appearing on ITV show Good Morning Britain, the billionaire businessman stood in front of the “mother ship”, with the big reveal of the newest craft set to happen in California later on Friday.

Designed to take thrillseekers into space, seats on the ride, which can carry six passengers at a time, will cost $349,550 ($US250,000) with more than 700 people said to have signed up for the journey so far.

SpaceShipTwo’s arrival signals a return to testing for Virgin Galactic, the arm of the tycoon’s empire that hopes to be the first to take tourists on trips into space.

.@richardbranson has told @bbcnaga "any country that's part of Europe would make a big mistake to leave Europe"https://t.co/a6ZQ4aQp4O

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) February 19, 2016

Sir Richard said people “expect companies like Virgin to push forward”, and after Friday’s unveiling, rigorous testing would take place over the next 12 months.

He said “hopefully” they were “nearly at the end of a 10-year program” to get Virgin Galactic this far.

“We will send people to space once pilots have tested the ship time and time and time again,” Sir Richard told the TV show.

Entrepreneur Richard Branson poses with the first SpaceShipTwo at a Virgin Galactic hangar at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, where a new copy of its space tourism rocket will be unveiled. Picture: AP / Reed Saxon

In 2014, the commercial space program suffered a setback when one pilot — father-of-two Mike Alsbury — died in the incident last year.was killed and another seriously injured during a test flight of the prototype space tourism rocket.

Just more than a year since the death, he told GMB: “Obviously it was a horrendous day when it happened and I must admit we had moments where I questioned if we should carry on.

“Talking to engineers and astronauts and family members and the public, we got all the feedback and it was apparent there was no way we could stop.

“NASA had issues in its time. It is part of the process of trying to achieve things that we have not before.”

Part of the wreckage of the first Virgin Galactic space tourism rocket in the desert near Mojave, California, which killed pilot Mike Alsbury. Picture: AP / Ringo H.W. Chiu

The team behind the latest suborbital spaceplane includes leaders from NASA’s mission control and astronaut corps, the militaries from three nations and from the top flight of the aviation and transport industries.