Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson makes historic space flight
- Swashbuckling entrepreneur Richard Branson beats out fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos with first space trip
- Passengers were able to experience weightlessness and admire the Earth’s curvature
British billionaire Richard Branson flew into space Sunday aboard a Virgin Galactic vessel, a voyage he described as the “experience of a lifetime” – and one he hopes will usher in an era of lucrative space tourism.
The mission’s success allowed the swashbuckling septuagenarian to one up fellow tycoon Jeff Bezos – who owns space company Blue Origin, and is set to launch on July 20 – in the race to the final frontier.
“I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid, but honestly nothing could prepare you for the view of Earth from space,” he said, grinning during a post-flight ceremony where he and crewmates received their astronaut wings, before popping open the champagne to celebrate.
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British billionaire Richard Branson returns to Earth after historic Virgin Galactic space flight
Branson, three fellow passengers and two pilots (all Virgin employees) breached the US-recognised boundary of space, reaching an altitude of 86km (53.5 miles) and experiencing weightlessness for a few minutes aboard the VSS Unity.
The spaceplane then lowered its wings and glided down to the ground at around 9.40am Mountain Time, about an hour after it had taken off attached to the belly of a massive carrier plane, which ascended 15km (10 miles) before dropping its payload.
The rocket-powered Unity achieved a top speed of Mach 3 as it soared to space.