Richard Branson has chosen Roswell, New Mexico, as the launch site for his Virgin Galactic space tourism programme which is scheduled for its maiden run in five years’ time.

According to London-based The Times newspaper, representatives from the New Mexico state government will visit Branson in London this week before he flies to the US to announce the deal.

New Mexico is reportedly set to invest £114m in the world’s first commercial space port while Branson is to take a 20-year lease on the site.

The stable, sunny weather around Roswell is believed to be a large contributory factor in Branson’s choice of port location as it will guarantee a maximum of 320 operational days each year.

The area is also famed for a number of UFO conspiracies including the alleged alien autopsies from the alleged ‘Roswell Incident’ flying saucer crash of 1947.

In July, Branson announced that he intended to build five spaceships and had set up The Spaceship Company to do so, entering into agreement with aeronautical designer Burt Rutan and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who backed Rutan’s first privately-financed SpaceShipOne rocket.

The sub-orbital flights will cost an estimated £115,000 (US$200,000, 166,454 euro) per person and last for approximately two hours, reaching heights of 62 miles. Weightlessness will occur for five minutes of the flight.

Branson’s Virgin Galactic will spend around £12.4m (US$21.5m, 17.9m euro) for use of the technology and a further £57.6m (US$100m, 83.2m euro) to build the five spacecraft – called SpaceShipTwo (SS2) – which will be capable of carrying up to seven passengers. Virgin Galactic will own the SS2 design and its launch system – White Knight Two – which is currently under development at Rutan’s Mojave Aerospace Ventures base in the US. Details: www.virgingalactic.com