Story ID: 481
These suits are made for launching
By: Ian Sheppard
Caption: The Under Armour suits are designed for use by space tourists on Virgin Galactic's suborbital flights from Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Word Count: 138
As visitors clear the new line of security scanners and emerge into the Dubai Airshow's main hall they can consider what it might be like to launch into space, sporting a new Under Armour "spacesuit" for the ride of a lifetime with Virgin Galactic. The suits are presented in two cases by the show entrance.

Virgin Galactic operates the reusable SpaceShipTwo spaceflight system—consisting of WhiteKnightTwo, a custom-built carrier aircraft, and SpaceShipTwo itself, which will take "astronauts" from 50,000 feet, where the craft is released, up to 50 miles above the Earth.

A seat aboard SpaceShipTwo costs $250,000, and according to Virgin Galactic, more than 600 people have put down deposits to reserve a ticket. Before tourist flights begin, however, the company has teamed with the Italian Air Force to carry out research flights next year.