The WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo spacecraft will launch commercial spaceflights from the site by 2013.

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And WhiteKnightTwo, or "Eve" as this aircraft is known, is going to be kept extremely busy, making for a very efficient operation.

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It took off slung beneath the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, which does the job of lifting the rocket plane to its launch altitude - some 45, 000ft (14km).

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Virgin will begin testing WhiteKnightTwo this summer, said Whitehorn.

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The craft, partially owned by Virgin group overlord Sir Richard Branson and the Abu Dhabi-based investment group PJC, took off earlier today from its berth at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, where carrier-craft WhiteKnightTwo ferried it to a 47, 000 ft altitude after which its own rockets kicked in for a supersonic flight.

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The craft, partially owned by Virgin group overload Sir Richard Branson and the Abu Dhabi-based investment group PJC, took off earlier today from its berth at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, where carrier-craft WhiteKnightTwo ferried it to a 47, 000 ft altitude after which its own rockets kicked in for a supersonic flight.

ENGADGET