When it begins flights, Enterprise will carry six passengers. The spaceship will fly to 50,000 feet in altitude underneath the carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo, then separate for the trip into space. SpaceShipTwo will fire its engines for about 70 seconds, then shut off for the final coast to 60 miles (110 kilometers.)

The passengers will feel weightless for about five minutes, Virgin says, with room "to allow for an out-of-seat zero gravity experience as well as plenty of large windows for the amazing views back to Earth."

Next, Enterprise will turn back to Earth. It will "feather" its rudders, which means the rudders will turn up to 90 degrees to increase the drag and control the yaw of the spacecraft. This will allow better control as it goes through the atmosphere.

"The feather configuration is also highly stable, effectively giving the pilot a hands-free re-entry capability, something that has not been possible on spacecraft before, without resorting to computer controlled fly-by-wire systems," Virgin stated.

At 70,000 feet, Enterprise will have enough air around it to move the rudders back to a configuration that allows for gliding. It will then land back on Earth on a normal runway.

Virgin hopes to commence flights in earnest around 2015. Aboard the first flight will be Branson and some members of his family. Branson, an amateur adventurer who is famous for his publicity stunts, has been interested in space since at least the Apollo era.

The lengthy delay in the first Virgin flights caused some ticketholders to ask for refunds, but the vast majority stuck around eager for the experience to begin. Industry watchers have applauded Virgin's patient approach.

"They're taking the time necessary to make sure the vehicles are as safe as they possibly can be before they take paying customers up," said John Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, in a 2011 SPACE.com interview.

"There's never going to be such a thing as perfectly safe spaceflight, but they're going to get as safe as they possibly can."