In case you missed it earlier today, Virgin Galactic successfully performed its first rocket-powered test flight of the SpaceShipTwo. In other words, space tourism is nigh.

Earlier this month, Virgin Chairman Richard Branson announced at the launch of Virgin America's new route through Newark that his other flying endeavor would be hitting a huge milestone this month: Its first rocket-powered test flight.

The photo you see above was taken on February 28th when the Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites team tested, for the first time, the rocket that will power its first test flight before going into orbit. And it was a raging success.

Virgin Galactic's has a new spaceship: LauncherOne. It's a new air-launched rocket designed to put small satellites into orbit. LauncherOne is a cheap way for universities and private companies to get their own devices orbiting Earth:

Richard Branson has officially declared that the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space (previously known as the Spaceport America) is open for business in the New Mexico desert. Spacemen, rev your engines.

NASA's space shuttle program may be kaput, but that doesn't mean they've given up their space adventuring entirely: in the future, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo will house research missions for the government organization.

Fab Runway Girl Mary Kirby is reporting that SpaceShipTwo will have internet connectivity for passengers.

This is Dave MacKay, a 53-year-old pilot from Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. He has been selected to be the first captain of Virgin Galactic's fleet of suborbital spaceships. He will fly the SpaceShipTwo when it launches in 2013.

The Mariana Trench is a place of incredible mystery, the deepest point in our home planet. Like 97% of Earth's seabed, it remains completely unknown and full of the strangest life you can possibly imagine. Never-seen aliens swim and roam its lunar landscape.