"2008 Will Really be the Year of the Spaceship"

That's what soon-to-be space pirate Sir Richard Branson had to say when his partner, Burt Rutan, unveiled the world's first not-quite-finished passenger spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

And right after that Sir Richard announced there won't be any passenger flights on Virgin Galactic until 2009, making that more of the Year of the Spaceship, but, whatever. I still want to go for a ride.

Here's the New York Times coverage of the unveiling, but you'll have to register to read it.