India, Aug. 16 -- Virgin Galactic has taken a major step in its space tourism project on Thursday as it unveiled its new Mission Control at a spaceport in New Mexico.

AFP quoted the British spaceflight company's Chief Executive George Whitesides that the first commercial space flight carrying paying passengers is expected to take off within a year.

Virgin Galactic's founder, Richard Branson, had initially suggested that he hoped to see a maiden flight by the end of 2009, but this date has been delayed on a number of occasions, most seriously by an accident in 2014 that killed a co-pilot.

On Thursday, Virgin invited guests to see what it described as the "Gateway to Space" building in New Mexico. Two floors of the building, named Cirrus...