text: Billionaire Branson Unveils Space Tourism Plans LONDON (AFP) -- British airline magnate Richard Branson announced a hugely ambitious plan for the world's first commercial space flights, saying he would send "thousands" of fee-paying astronauts into orbit in the next five years.       Branson, a flamboyant communicator and high-profile tycoon, said his Virgin Atlantic airline had signed a technology licensing deal with the US company behind SpaceShipOne, which in June became the first private manned craft to travel to space...
inputs: Billionaire Branson Unveils Space Tourism Plans LONDON (AFP) -- British airline magnate Richard Branson announced a hugely ambitious plan for the world's first commercial space flights, saying he would send "thousands" of fee-paying astronauts into orbit in the next five years.       Branson, a flamboyant communicator and high-profile tycoon, said his Virgin Atlantic airline had signed a technology licensing deal with the US company behind SpaceShipOne, which in June became the first private manned craft to travel to space...