Richard Branson Space Flight: Virgin Galactic founder rockets to the edge of space

Richard Branson

Richard Branson has flown to the edge of space and back onboard Virgin Galactic's first fully crewed flight, becoming the first person to fly to space aboard his own spaceship. It was launched above the skies of New Mexico on Sunday.

The billionaire founder of Virgin Galactic was inside the VSS Unity which detached from a carrier aircraft called VMS Eve above 40,000 feet. Then, it fired its rocket engine and accelerated faster than the speed of sound to get to the edge of space.

Virgin Galactic

Two pilots guided the vehicle carrying Branson and three Virgin Galactic employees. The crew experienced weightlessness and unique views of Earth.

"It's the complete experience of a lifetime. Now I'm looking down at a beautiful spaceport. Congratulations to everybody's work for creating such a beautiful, beautiful place. Congratulations to all our wonderful team at Virgin Galactic for 17 years of hard, hard work to get us this far, said Branson.

Richard Branson

VSS Unity performed a slow backflip in microgravity when the virgin galactic crew was weightless. Then it re-entered the atmosphere and glided back down for a conventional landing on a runway at Spaceport America. The whole thing lasted for less than 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic is launching a sweepstakes to win two seats on a future flight, hoping to open up space for all.

Virgin Galactic has two test flights left this year. They intend to start flying customers to space next year at $250,000 each.