A former RAF pilot’s lifelong dream of becoming an astronaut might actually come to fruition after he was tapped by Sir Richard Branson to become chief pilot for Virgin Galactic, Branson’s $200,000 per ticket sub-orbital “commercial” spacecraft enterprise. The “VSS Enterprise” — named after the famed Star Trek Enterprise — is expected to make its virgin voyage in roughly 18 months time, delivering Branson along with his family and over 400 passengers into 60 plus miles above the earth’s atmosphere.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, Dave Mackay, who’d long dreamed of space-travel will reach a cruising altitude of around 50,000 feet then literally fire up rockets to launch the Enterprise an additional 300,000 feet into space at 3.5 times the speed of sound. The passengers, allegedly, will be flattened into their seats before eventually experiencing “zero gravity.”

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