Those who want to experience a suborbital ride and get a view of the Earth may soon realize their wish.

By next year, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two, which is currently undergoing test flights, will go on a trial run beyond the atmosphere. Some 450 persons have made reservations for this $200,000 ride, which is a five-minute suborbital hop that will expose passengers to weightlessness and a view of the planet.

So far only about 500 persons have been able to experience this.

Virgin's suborbital spaceflight services will be managed by Mike Moses, NASA's deputy space shuttle program manager. With the end of NASA's space shuttle operations this summer, Moses is headed to join Virgin as vice president for operations.

"If this works and we get commercial, regular, routine spaceflight, even if its suborbital operations, that expands the number of people who are involved in the space program, the number of people who get to go up in the orbit and see the Earth from above and that should hopefully seed the whole culture of the country and world to start changing our attitudes toward how important space is," said Moses.

Moses, who oversaw NASA's space shuttle operations during the final three years of the program, will be relocating from Houston to Mojave, Calif., then to Virgin Galactic's commercial space base near Las Cruces, N.M., where a spaceport is under construction.