Could our ticket to space finally be getting closer? Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides says so - recently, Whitesides mentioned the end of this year as having a possible first powered flight to space.

According to BBC, it's been 10 years since Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipOne made history by becoming the first privately funded vehicle to make two trips above the Earth's atmosphere inside a week. Now, the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane is being tested, and may well become the herald of a new era of commercial space travel.

Whitesides stated, "Everything we're doing is new, whether it's just technical things or even apparently mundane items like insurance. All you can do is take some smart people and ask them to go try to work it out. This is a new, privately funded, human flight space program, and it's a big deal," conveying some of the thinking behind Virgin Galactic's newest project.

This past Tuesday, SpaceShipTwo successfully soared into the air and glided back down during a test flight. According to NBC News, it was the first time the craft left the ground since a similar gliding test in August.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson has stated that he would take the inaugural passenger flight to space from Spaceport America in New Mexico early next year, but that timetable depends on progress in the test program. So far, more than 700 passengers have already made reservations at a price currently standing at more than $250,000 per seat.

Whitesides even bought himself and his wife a ticket before he applied to work at Virgin. When asked about the would-be customers of the flight, he stated, "They're a group of early adopters, people who know this wouldn't happen without them... They're also a well-educated group, many of whom understand the challenges of human spaceflight and want to see us do this right."