Virgin Galactic to launch space flights on Christmas Day

Sir Richard Branson has announced that the first public Virgin Galactic flight will be from Abu Dhabi on Christmas Day.

According to Marketing magazine, Branson is already in talks with PR agencies to promote the space flights to travellers.

But in a statement, a Virgin Galactic spokesperson said the start date for carrying passengers depends on a successful safety test.

According to The Macomb Daily, they said: "The path is now clear to a fairly small number of similar flights which will see a rapid expansion of rocket burn time, culminating in full spaceflight, which we expect to achieve during 2013.

"Our best estimate at the moment, if test flights continue as expected, is that we could see the first paying customer flights in 2014. However, as noted previously, safety will always be our North Star."

Celebrities who have bought tickets to for the first flight include Ashton Kutcher, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

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