I'm afraid to say "toy for the rich" is not far off the mark. That is not to belittle the engineering efforts of Burt Rutan, he is smart guy, but the programme will not amount to more than joyrides and very limited microgravity experiments.
If it helps get people interested in commercial exploitation, that's great if it leads to investment by major players, and orbital ships are what's needed for real commercial exploitation of space. Those players are investing, but in satellite launchers and ferry services for NASA, i.e. ones with a real market.
As far as "space-planes" go (i.e. SSTO) with a real chance of innovation and breakthrough in launch costs then Branson would be much better investing in Skylon
Reaction Engines Ltd - Space Access: SKYLON. Skylon does not carry celebrities, unfortunately.