Virgin Galactic – Richard Branson’s commercial space tourism venture – has revealed that it is aiming to begin space flights in 2013. Currently, almost 500 people have already signed up to ride on the world’s first spaceliner, paying $200,000 for a ticket on the recently christened Virgin SpaceShip Enterprise.

However, the date is being perceived by some commentators as another delay to the high-profile program, which originally set a rough launch date of 2007, in an interview with the BBC, the firm’s commercial director Stephen Attenborough said that:

“This is a programme that can’t have a hard-end date as safety is number one priority. [However] our foot is flat on the gas, we have proven technology, we have a spaceport that opened last week, and the test flight programme is well advanced.”

Mr Attenborough also revealed in the interview that the program had just welcomed its second pilot, Keith Colmer, who will join chief pilot David Mackay. My Colmer, a former Air Force test pilot, has been chosen from more than 500 applicants – many of them former astronauts.

Sir Richard has previously stated he intends to take the inaugural flight accompanied by his children.

What we think of as the ‘Space Shuttle’, NASA calls the Space Shuttle transport orbital vehicle or orbiter (STS-OV, or just OV). It’s a reusable winged plane-like spacecraft. In addition to its engines and thrusters, it also has a three-level crew cabin and a payload bay. The orbiter fleet has had five different craft. The first was the Columbia, launched on 12 April 1981, followed by the Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour orbiters (the latter built to replace Challenger). Although all of the orbiters are similar, rotating maintenance means that each is somewhat unique. The Endeavour is the youngest orbiter, first launched on 7 May 1992.

The Discovery Space Shuttle is set to make its final flight tonight (24/02/11) at 4:50pm EST / 9:50pm GMT. You can watch a live feed from NASA’s website here. With it, Discovery will be taking the first robotic crew member to the ISS, Robonaut 2.

Shuttle Disasters

On 28 January 1986, the Challenger was destroyed a little more than a minute into its tenth mission. A seal on one of the SRBs failed, which caused it to leak flames onto the external fuel tank. The orbiter veered and was torn apart by as much as 20 Gs of aerodynamic force, which resulted in the death of its seven-member crew.

On 1 February 2003, the Columbia was destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere, killing its seven crew members. This occurred when gases entered one of the orbiter’s wings through a hole made by a piece of foam during launch and caused a structural failure.

Top Five Facts – Historical Space Shuttle Missions

STS-7: Space Shuttle Challenger

Launched on 18 June 1983, this marked the first time that an American female astronaut entered space with the inclusion of Sally K. Ride.

STS-31: Space Shuttle Discovery

Launching on 24 April 1990, the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery deployed the Hubble Space Telescope during STS-31.

STS-71: Space Shuttle Atlantis

On 27 June 1995, the Atlantis launched STS-71. This mission marked the first time that the Space Shuttle docked with the Russian space station Mir.

STS-88: Space Shuttle Endeavour

Launched on 4 December 1998, STS-88 was the first mission to the ISS. As its payload, it carried the first US node for the ISS, Unity.

STS-95: Space Shuttle Discovery

Discovery’s 25th flight launched on 29 October 1998. It is also well-known as John Glenn’s return to space at the age of 77.

The balloon rises to almost 19 miles before bursting, with the camera also catching the majority of the descent back to Earth.

Luke Geissbuhler, seven-year-old Max and the rest of his team spent eight months preparing for the big day, ensuring that all possible factors were taken into account.

This amazing video shows how some DIY projects can truly produce some incredible results.

To celebrate the landing of thousands upon thousands of iPads in the UK, Europe and Canada from today onwards, iCreate magazine will be posting some essential tutorials to get you up and running with your new device. They will be tweeting about the posts using #iPadWeek, so feel free to tweet your own tips and tricks for the device using the same tag. The iCreate team will pick the best iPad tip this week and send the winner an iPad case!

If you didn’t pre-order an iPad and are planning to get one from an Apple Store in the UK this weekend, you’ll have to be quick. iCreate has heard on the grapevine that each store will only be holding 70 iPads, and that not all resellers will stock them. So, be quick or be sorry. The first tutorial will be out shortly on iCreateMagazine.com…