Farnborough Airshow: Branson's Virgin Galactic 'spaceship' in UK debut "I'm immensely proud of what we have already achieved as we draw near to regular suborbital flights on SpaceShipTwo," Sir Richard said. Now, LauncherOne is bringing the price of satellite launch into the realm of affordability for innovators everywhere, from start-ups and schools to established companies and national space agencies. It will be a critical new tool for the global research community, enabling us all to learn about our home planet more quickly and affordably. LancherOne will cost $10m for companies to launch their satellites into space and Virgin Galactic said four businesses have put down deposits to use the vehicle. These include Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining venture backed by film director James Cameron and Google chairman Eric Schmidt. Passenger flights will work through a carrier craft, called WhiteKnightTwo, launching SpaceShipTwo into a suborbital flight. SpaceShipTwo can take six passengers and two pilots, who will experience zero gravity. With WhiteKnightTwo, it will take off from a spaceport in New Mexico, in the US, before SpaceShipTwo is released at about 50,000ft (15,240m) to go into space and then effectively glides back to New Mexico. Virgin Galactic's announcement at Farnborough comes a day after David Willetts, the Science Minister, said Britain's space industry "continues to buck general economic trends" and is growing at 7.5pc a year. Mr Willetts said the industry is now worth £9.1bn in the UK, compared with £7.5bn in 2009, and provides 29,000 jobs for highly skilled workers. The sector includes satellite and communications technology, but the Government is keen to grow Britain's civil space industry. Mr Willets added: "Space is one of the UK's key hi-tech growth industries. I fully expect this growth trajectory to continue, as UK industry breaks into new markets and seizes more export opportunities.