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Our dreams of skipping our annual trip to Benidorm for a holiday in space just took one step closer to reality, as the world's first ever commercial passenger spaceship was unveiled.

The impressive looking SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is the product of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and could be taking space tourists skywards
(We have all the best pictures of the event here.)

Speaking at the launch in California's Mojave Desert, Branson said: "This will be the start of commercial space travel. You become an astronaut."

The $450m (£274m) project promises space tourists the chance to see the curvature of Earth set against the backdrop of space - making many men (and their inner 7-year-olds) very happy.

A twin-hulled aircraft called Eve will be used to take SpaceShipTwo to 50,000 feet (16 kilometres). Then passengers will get to experience zero gravity as SpaceShipTwo uses a unique hybrid rocket motor to reach distances of 65 miles (104 km) above the Earth.

However it won't come cheap, 300 would-be astronauts have already signed up for the $200,000 (£122,000) ride. The journey will only last two and a half hours and include just five minutes of weightlessness. But it also comes with three days of training -and probably a Virgin Galactic baseball cap.

It is hoped demand will see Virgin Galactic operating six ships for the space flights and they are also considering using them for suborbital travel - which could cut traveling times from the US to Australia from 15 hours to 90 minutes.

In Pictures: Virgin Galactic is unveiled