Thats fantastic What beautiful aircraft. How come NASA never thought of that. The lifting capacity is mind boggling - 35,000 lbs = approx 15 tonnes
When is the first flight??? Saving my pennies
VG's trajectory is ballistic, ie straight up and straight down....and not even close to orbital speeds.
A seat on the shuttle however....hummm....
P.S.
FYI If...and this is a big "if" you could generate the same thrust at altitude
as you do at sea level in a B747/A380, you could get to orbit, provided the aircraft's skin didn't melt getting there.
There are others who are going to enter the market , if what is being talked about comes to pass in a short time these flights will become fairly affordable .