CANNES, FRANCE (December 7, 2006). “Fly me to the moon” is no longer a romantic notion, it’s a request that Peter Friedman will soon hear. Today Virgin Galactic, in conjunction with Virtuoso, proudly announce the travel consultants who will train to become “Accredited Space Agents” – the first and only consultants in North America allowed to reserve seats aboard Virgin Galactic’s suborbital space flights. Peter Friedman is among the elite travel consultants selected as an Accredited Space Agent.

When Virgin Galactic was ready to bring their pioneering travel venture to the North American market, they recognized the important role that travel agents would play in the sales process and they sought to work with just one agency network – Virtuoso – whose consultants are renowned for selling experiential travel. In August, Virgin Galactic named leading travel company, Virtuoso, as their exclusive retail travel group for North America. Since then, the two organizations have been working together to match the right consultants with this unique program, vetting applications from 120 would-be Space Agents.

“The Virtuoso consultants we selected embody the adventurous and entrepreneurial spirit needed to represent Virgin Galactic. Their passion for space travel, combined with their talent for selling unique experiences, makes them ideal candidates while ensuring their sales success with this new level of space tourism.”

This select group of consultants will go through a comprehensive education program in their quest to become “Accredited Space Agents.” Training will take place in early 2007 and, once accredited, agents can begin reserving seats, with the first flights launching in late 2008. Overall, participants will make a five-year commitment to the program, which includes marketing and sales support in addition to training.

“Travel is about making dreams a reality and for many, especially Baby Boomers who were impressionable children when man first walked on the moon, going to space is the ultimate dream come-true,” says Matthew Upchurch, CEO of Virtuoso. “By becoming ‘Accredited Space Agents,’ these consultants will continue to set themselves apart, reinforcing their position as innovators in the life experience business and living up to our slogan: We Orchestrate Dreams.”

To date, the world has seen fewer than 500 astronauts, but with the launch of Virgin Galactic spaceflights that will soon change. Together with Virgin Galactic, Peter Friedman is poised to turn the dream of going to space into a reality for his clientele. The once-in-a-lifetime experience includes Astronaut training, ‘G force’ acclimatization and a sensational spaceflight lasting over two hours. At $200,000 per ticket, Virgin Galactic’s flights are a mere fraction of the $20 million price tag associated with other commercial space tourism. And while Virgin Galactic’s technology makes space travel more attainable for the general public, it takes a talented and skilled luxury travel consultant to sell a trip to space.

Wincer says of the group, “Virtuoso was our first choice for North America. As the leaders in luxury travel, we knew Virtuoso’s members would understand and embrace this new opportunity. Their consultants possess three key assets that make them the ideal ambassadors for Virgin Galactic: they are at the forefront of exciting trends in travel; they are adept at selling exceptional experiential travel; and, they have a roster of clientele that are ideal candidates for space travel.”

About Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a company established by Richard Branson's Virgin Group to undertake the challenge of developing space tourism for everybody. It will own and operate privately built spaceships, modeled on the history-making SpaceShipOne craft. These spaceships will allow affordable sub-orbital space tourism for the first time in our history. Virgin Galactic will run as a business with the sole purpose of making space travel more and more affordable to people throughout the world. They will reinvest funds made over the first few years back into the business striving constantly to lower prices.

Virgin Galactic Three-Day Experience
After three days of exciting preparation, bonding and training, passengers will board the spaceship, which climbs to 50,000 feet while attached to a specially designed carrier aircraft – an intrinsically safer way to launch than vertically from the ground. From here, the spaceship releases from the carrier and climbs vertically, reaching the speed of sound in 10 seconds and around four times the speed of sound in under 30 seconds, all while powered by a clean and safe hybrid rocket motor.

Traveling at over 3,000 miles an hour, the G-force surge will push the would-be astronauts back into their seats as they head into the black sky and a maximum altitude of about 75 miles above the earth's surface. When the rocket motor shuts down, everyone on board will experience the silence of space and the magic of weightlessness. They will be able to see the curvature of the earth and 1,000 miles in any direction. They will also see the atmosphere protecting the earth.

Passengers will experience the wonder of weightlessness before the spacecraft returns to earth, passing back through the atmosphere without a heat build-up thanks to the unique wing feathering technology, and making a normal runway landing.

For further information, please contact
Peter Friedman at Unique Travel
PeterF@UniqueTrav.com
561-495-5775 | 800-2453403