Potential space tourists got their first public viewing of the commercial passenger vehicle SpaceShipTwo yesterday in California, to the delight of the world’s media and those involved in PR for the space tourism industry.

The vehicle’s unveiling is the latest publicity coup for British ‘Virgin’ billionaire Richard Branson, as he attempts to create the world’s first commercial spaceline. Virgin Galactic says it has already signed up more than 300 passengers for flights from a spaceport in New Mexico.

Branson has previously garnered publicity for unveiling the design for his spaceship, rolling out the mothership for the space ship, getting the mothership into the air, and officially launching his spaceline (among other things).

The world’s most famous Virgin still has to actually fly a tourist into space though. He is unlikely to do so until 2011 at the earliest – even if all flight testing goes smoothly. Expect several more high profile PR events before then though…

Image: SpaceShipTwo under its mothership / Mark Greenberg/Virgin Galactic