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Richard Branson has revealed plans to fly holidaymakers from London to Australia, via space, in around half an hour.

The owner of Virgin Atlantic has revealed that preparations are well underway in his firm's bid to create an affordable mode of transport that will take passengers into space.

Mr Branson told the Daily Telegraph that two spacecraft will be ready for testing in California next year and could be carrying passengers by as early as 2009.

'We have a very light mother ship called Eve which will carry the spaceship up to 60,000ft,' he told the newspaper.

'Then you drop away from it. You go from zero to three and a half thousand miles per hour in ten seconds.'

The super-rich businessman also revealed that he, his parents, his wife and two children intend to be on the first flight.

As well as opening up a new era in space tourism, Mr Branson said that Virgin Galactic, as the space venture is called, will make travelling long distances a much shorter process.

'We hope to do London to Australia in half an hour outside the air, in orbit,' he said.

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