Bransons, Space Tourists Anxious for Maiden Flight

UPHAM, N.M. — Few people know British billionaire Richard Branson better than his mother.

The 87-year-old Eve Branson says her son has been in plenty of difficult and dangerous situations, but all have turned out fine.

She expects it will be no different with his efforts to get paying customers to the edge of the Earth on his Virgin Galactic spaceline.

Branson might be anxious to see the day when the first mothership and rocket boost off from New Mexico's Spaceport America, but his mother says he's very thorough.

That makes prospective space tourists like Sonja Rohde of Germany feel all the better about traveling with Virgin Galactic to a place where few have gone before.

Another year of testing is expected before commercial flights begin.

Rohde says it's like waiting for Christmas.