Aussie astronaut takes aim at Virgin Galactic

Australia's first professional astronaut to enter space has taken aim at Richard Branson’s plan to send tourists into space.

Just a week after Virgin Galactic’s unmanned craft reached the edge of space, Adelaide astronaut Dr Andy Thomas did his best to bring Richard Branson back down to earth.

“It's true that he will fly to the edge of space, he can't stay there really, he just falls right back down. It's just a high altitude airplane flight and a dangerous one at that,” Dr Thomas said.

The NASA employee was back in his hometown of Adelaide today after the city won the race to house Australia's new National Space Agency.

Dr Thomas lobbied behind the scenes for Adelaide's cause but said he's not impressed by talk of Virgin Galactic joining the state's space revolution.

“He would probably ask for huge tax incentives to do that, that's how he got the facility in New Mexico, they coughed up huge tax incentives,” he said.

Incentives Dr Thomas believes is the wrong direction for space technology.

“You can't grow it, you can't make it big enough,” Dr Thomas said.

“The thing I've got to say about Richard Branson, he could sell refrigerators to Eskimos.”

Dr Thomas' comments come as Virgin Galactic prepares to fly its first paying customers into space.

Six hundred people are said to have reserved tickets which cost up to $700,000 dollars each.

Virgin Galactic was contacted for comment and says it stands by its space travel plans.