LOS ANGELES - Aerospace engineers have been holed up in a Mojave Desert hangar for four years, fashioning a commercial spaceship to loft rich tourists some 62 miles above Earth. Now the wraps come partially off the top-secret project.

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson and American aerospace designer Burt Rutan are due Monday to show off their mothership, which is designed to air launch a passenger-toting spaceship out of the atmosphere.

The rollout — a year after a deadly accident at Rutan’s test site — marks the start of a rigorous flight test program that space tourism advocates hope will climax with the first suborbital joy rides by the end of the decade. More than 250 wannabe astronauts have paid $200,000 or put down deposits for a chance to float weightless for a mere five minutes.

“Having invested all my faith in it, I’m so excited to see the actual thing,” said artist Namira Salim, a customer who is lined up for a ride on Branson’s Virgin Galactic.

The last time there was this level of buzz in the high desert north of Los Angeles was in 2004, when throngs of spectators gathered to witness SpaceShipOne capture the $10 million Ansari X Prize by becoming the first private, manned craft to reach space. It was designed by Rutan and bankrolled by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen.

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written by Andrew

AHMADABAD, India - Authorities scoured a western Indian city Sunday for those behind a series of bombings that killed at least 45 people, reportedly rounding up more than two dozen residents. It was the second series of blasts in India in two days.

A little-known group claimed responsibility for the attack.

“In the name of Allah. the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death!” said an e-mail from the group sent to a number of Indian television news stations just minutes before the blasts began.

The e-mail’s subject line said “Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat,” an apparent reference to 2002 riots in this western state which left 1,000 people, most of them Muslim, dead. The historic city of Ahmadabad is the capital of Gujarat and was the scene of much of the 2002 violence.

State government spokesman Jaynarayan Vyas said 161 people were wounded when at least 16 bombs went off Saturday evening in several crowded neighborhoods. The Saturday attack came a day after seven smaller blasts killed two people in the southern technology hub of Bangalore.

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written by Andrew