Virgin Galactic expects to be profitable two years after it begins publicly trading, with the company aiming to fly tourists to the edge of space for the first time within a year.

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, and venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday that Virgin Galactic is projected to become profitable on an annual basis by August 2021. The pair of billionaires, who are taking the company public following a merger deal, also said Virgin Galactic is on track to fly its first customers within a year.

"Since we put two spaceships into space earlier this year, and made five new astronauts – the first astronauts to have been made on American soil since 2009 – we've had 2,500 people ask to sign up," Branson told CNBC. "The market is enormous."

Sending the company's first tourists to space would come as Virgin Galactic gets ready to go public following a merger with Social Capital Hedosophia (SCH), a special-purpose acquisition company that Palihapitiya created. He will become the chairman of the new Virgin Galactic, while the existing management team, including CEO George Whitesides, will remain in place. The combined firm will have a valuation of $1.5 billion, with SCH taking a 49% stake. LionTree Advisors is serving as Virgin Galactic's financial adviser as it seeks capital.

"We have a customer backlog of more than 600 people, more than $80 million in collected deposits already," Palihapitiya said.

Tickets for a spaceflight are priced at about $250,000 a piece. Virgin Galactic's spacecraft Unity holds up to six passengers along with the two pilots. The spaceship is dropped from a jet-powered aircraft at about 40,000 feet before firing its rocket motor, reaching over three times of the speed of sound as it climbs toward space.