The Inside of Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo

There are airplanes, and there are spaceplanes, but from the inside, Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo suborbital plane looks like any other aircraft. The difference is, this one shuttles a space ship into suborbital space. The WhiteKnightTwo’s spacebound travels probably explain the totally sweet helmets lying about the cockpit, but otherwise this looks like familiar territory for a pilot. And for good reason — Virgin is training its airline pilots to control these high-flying planes. If you missed the news, Virgin Galactic will fly anyone with $200,000 to spare out beyond the earth’s atmosphere. Fights should begin a couple years from now, so start saving. [Hyperbola via Gizmodo]