Growing up in Perth, Enrico Palermo was always looking to the stars.

Key points: Richard Branson's space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, has completed another successful test flight

Richard Branson's space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, has completed another successful test flight Mr Branson hopes the flights will transport tourists to the edge of space by the end of this year

Mr Branson hopes the flights will transport tourists to the edge of space by the end of this year Despite criticism, Mr Branson believes space travel will inspire new perspectives on the planet

Now, as president of The Spaceship Company, he is getting ready to send tourists in that direction.

"I was passionate about maths and science at a very young age," Mr Palermo told 7.30.

"During my teens I saw the shuttle program and thought space was fun."

That now sees him and his team building and testing the aircraft being used by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic as it prepares to send tourists to space.

Mr Palermo is one of a team living and working in California's Mojave Desert, where the specially built spacecraft is being put through its paces.

'This is regular routine access to space'

Enrico Palermo's Spaceship Company is building and testing Virgin Galactic's fleet of spaceships. ( ABC News: Zoe Daniel )

After a delay due to strong winds earlier in the week, on Friday Virgin Galactic's spaceship reached the "edge of space" for the second time in three months.

Mr Palermo said that reflected the gradual shift from test flights to scheduled services.

"This is a regular routine access to space. It's not just a one-off spaceflight," he said.

The reusable spacecraft, named the SpaceShipTwo, is designed to carry six passengers on a suborbital flight, reaching an altitude of 100 kilometres above Earth.

With a wingspan of 8 metres, the ship can change shape at its peak altitude to allow for re-entry into the atmosphere.

According to the company, the cabin is designed to "optimise the out-of-seat zero gravity experience for our astronauts".

More than 600 people have booked tickets for civilian flights.

'The motor shuts off … and instant weightlessness'

SpaceShipTwo takes off from the Mojave Desert on Friday. ( Supplied: Virgin Galactic )

Virgin Galactic has spent 14 years building and testing its ships for public space travel. The company initially planned to take tourists into space by 2007.

Five years ago a fatal crash was put down to pilot error.

Since then pilots like Mark "Forger" Stucky have continued testing, gradually confirming the ideal speed, weight, trajectory and capacity of the aircraft to handle changes in conditions.

"It's just that sense of pure acceleration; that pure push in the back, that pushing you forward," Mr Stucky said.

"You see there is curvature, skies get a lot darker, the sky is black.

"And then not much longer after that, the motor shuts off and instant weightlessness."

He is looking forward to taking tourists up.

"I think it will be a great experience," he said.

"I look forward to seeing that how they react."

Space tourism could become a reality as soon as this year

SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry six passengers on a suborbital flight. ( ABC News: Zoe Daniel )

On Friday, the spaceship reached its highest speed and altitude to date, hitting 89,918 metres.

Chief pilot Dave Mackay, a proud Scotsman, led the crew out to strains from a kilted bagpiper.

"Three people, Mach 3, 300,000 feet. Second flight of SpaceShipTwo. First Scotsman in space," he said. "It's a big flight."

Virgin Galactic is just one of several billionaire-backed companies testing various kinds of spaceships.

Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin are also in the race.

Mr Branson said he expected to be taking tourists to space by the end of 2019.

"This year is the year the 50th year of the Moon landing," he told 7.30.

"So it is going to be extraordinarily exciting to see people going into space. I hope to be able to go up in July. I've been looking forward to it for 14 years.

"And by the end of the year, we should be taking members of the public into space."

Shrinking the globe

Richard Branson celebrates with his pilots after the test flight in December 2018. ( AP: John Antczak )

But it will not come cheap.

Initially flights will cost $US250,000 ($349,000) per person.

However, Mr Branson points out that even that is vastly cheaper than Russian space flights costing about $US30 million.

He also said the cost would come down, and the eventual plan was to use space travel as a way of crossing the globe at speed with a view of the Earth from space on the way.

"The ultimate aim is to transport people around the world at a fraction of the time that they currently take," he said.

"I love going to Australia and I would visit four or five times a year instead of once a year."

A spaceport in Australia is something Virgin Galactic would consider. Talks are already underway with the new Australian Space Agency, but aviation regulations would need to be updated to include spaceships first.

"We would love one day to set up an operation in Australia and to work with the Australian government in making that possible," Mr Branson said.

He said the government had not yet reached out but if it did, Virgin would respond.

Commercial space travel: Game changer or long shot?

'Galactic girl' appears on all Virgin Galactic spacecraft. ( ABC News: Zoe Daniel )

Virgin Galactic sees other uses for its spaceships, including using them to position satellites in orbit at a fraction of the current cost.

The US Government has given the program its blessing, forecasting a boom in the commercial space industry, something that is strongly backed by President Donald Trump, who has also launched a new "Space Force".

"This sector will not only generate revenue, it will drive technological innovation, provide extra terrestrial sources of energy and raw materials and create whole new industries and that means creation of whole new job categories such as commercial astronauts," US Transport Secretary Elaine Chao said as she pinned astronaut wings on two Virgin Galactic pilots recently.

That is despite criticism from the likes of Australian astronaut Andy Thomas, who said the program is dangerous, dead-end, glorified aeroplane travel.

One Time magazine editor called Virgin Galactic "amateur hour" and Mr Branson "a man driven by too much hubris, too much hucksterism and too little knowledge of the head-crackingly complex business of engineering".

Another writer said the company was without a real business plan beyond "the vague talk of space tourism, and the spacecraft it built was hardly able to accomplish even that".

Mr Palermo, however, agrees with Mr Branson's view that tourists will be flying by year's end if testing goes according to schedule.

Mr Branson said commercial space travel had real scope to change the world, in part because it will give people a new perspective on the planet.

"Only 500 people have been to space as of today. They came back and completely changed in a really positive way," he said.

"There is a wonderful book called The Overview, which interviews these people and how they felt looking back on the Earth and what they wanted to do to improve the Earth when they came back down.

"We'd like an army of people that have become astronauts to come back and fight to make this world even more magical than it is today — to spend time protecting the Great Barrier Reef, to spend time just getting on top of climate change, to spend time on all these important issues."