Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise (named for our favorite ship in the galaxy) completed its first manned glide test flight yesterday in the Mojave Desert. We've covered Virgin Galactic's commercial space venture since the announcement of the Enterprise name, for obvious reasons. Other than the name though, we think that private enterprise venturing into space fits perfectly into Gene Roddenberry's vision of the human adventure. The test was completed without a hitch and now Virgin Galactic and Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites are one step closer to completing the experimental phase of the program. Check out the full press release below, plus a video of the test.

Virgin Galactic's flagship vessel, aptly named Enterprise, embarked on it's first crewed flight July 15th.  The ship remained attached to it's mothership VMS Eve for the duration of the 6hr 12min flight.  Crew members Peter Siebold and Michael Alsbury evaluated all of the spaceship’s systems and functions from end to end in the air.

It's really interesting that private space flight has become a reality.  With the X prize win in 2004, Burt Rutan and his company Scaled Composites have paved the way for the "everyman" to experience the thrill of spaceflight.  With the founding of Virgin Galactic Sir Richard Branson joined forces with Rutan to provide the first commercial spaceflight system to take tourists into a sub-orbital flight.

The first manned commercial spaceship was unveiled today in the Mojave Desert.  Virgin Galactic and it's founder Richard Branson also revealed another surprise by naming the ship (VSS) Enterprise.  We definitely let out a nerd squeal for that one!  Now, we don't know for sure if Branson is a Trek Fan or not, but we like to imagine him onboard his pimped-out Airbus A380 (with custom 24" wheels), watching Next Gen episodes and reciting lines with dialog.  Or, maybe he owns a private island, that he somehow shaped into a delta shield.  It could happen!

**Update**  Branson is a fan, check out what Wikipedia has to say about it.