Stephen Hawking to travel into space on board Virgin Galactic

Stephen Hawking has revealed that he has been offered a seat on Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, the first-ever commercial service to space.

The celebrated physicist told Good Morning Britain he never dreamed he would be able to go into space.

"I thought no one would take me," the 75-year-old said. "But Richard Branson has offered me a seat on Virgin Galactic and I said yes immediately".

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Hawking said that the trip would fulfill a lifelong dream.

"My three children have brought me great joy and I can tell you what will make me happy – to travel in space," he said.

The Virgin Galactic space shuttle, which would offer customers the chance to visit space for $250,000 (£200,000), has been in the works since 2004.

Initial projections suggested that the shuttle would embark on its maiden voyage by the end of 2009, "but the plan has been thrown off by a range of problems and disasters", says The Independent.

In 2014, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo craft exploded during a test flight, killing one of its two pilots.

A recent series of successful tests in the Mojave desert suggests that the programme is "back on track", Inverse reports, although no official date for the first passenger flight has been set.

In the same interview, Hawking said he feared he would not be welcome in Donald Trump's America, calling the US president a "demagogue" appealing to an electorate "who are neither liberal, nor that well-informed".

Hawking also repeated criticisms he made earlier this month about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour party, saying Corbyn had "allowed himself to be portrayed as a left-wing extremist".