A childhood dream came true for British billionaire Richard Branson when he flew to the edge of outer space and came back safely on Sunday.
Branson, who turns 71 on July 18, thus became the first man to ride his own spacecraft and reach space, which is technically considered to start from 50 miles above the earth. VSS Unity, which took Branson and five other crew members in a ride that lasted a little over one hour, reached an altitude of 53.5 miles (86 kilometers) over New Mexico.
The crew experienced three to four minutes of weightlessness and were able to witness the curvature of the Earth before making a smooth runway landing.
Branson’s flight beat his rival space tourism company Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos’ by nine days. The Amazon founder is scheduled to fly into space on July 20.
Branson said the trip was an “experience of a lifetime”.
“I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid, but honestly nothing can prepare you for the view of Earth from space. The whole thing was just magical,” he told the media on his return.
“We are at the vanguard of a new space age. As Virgin’s founder, I was honoured to test the incredible customer experience as part of this remarkable crew of mission specialists and now astronauts. I can’t wait to share this experience with aspiring astronauts around the world.
“We’re here to make space more accessible to all at all. The mission statement that I wrote inside my spacesuit was to turn the dream of space travel into a reality for my grandchildren… and for many people who are alive today, for everybody.”
It was the 22nd test flight of VSS Unity and the first test flight with a full crew in the cabin. The crew fulfilled a number of test objectives related to the cabin and customer experience, including evaluating the commercial customer cabin, the views of Earth from space and the conditions for conducting research and the effectiveness of the five-day pre-flight training program at Spaceport America.
Branson was accompanied by Virgin Galactic employees Beth Moses, Colin Bennett, and Sirisha Bandla, and they were piloted by Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci.
The crew were in SpaceShipTwo, a winged plane with a single rocket motor, which took off while attached beneath its twin-fuselaged mothership (called WhiteKnightTwo).
Around 9:15 in the morning, at a height of nearly 50,000 feet, the SpaceShipTwo detached from its mothership and was in a free fall for less than a second before its engine ignited and launched the craft further towards space. At that moment, the crew experienced up to three Gs of force.
Elon Musk travelled to New Mexico to support Branson, while Bezos tweeted his congratulations, adding “Can’t wait to join the club!”
Speaking to the media after Unity 22’s return, Michael Colglazier, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic, said: “Today is a landmark achievement for the Company and a historic moment for the new commercial space industry.
“With each successful mission we are paving the way for the next generation of astronauts. I want to thank our talented team, including our pilots and crew, whose dedication and commitment made today possible. They are helping open the door for greater access to space – so it can be for the many and not just for the few.”
The flight is being hailed as a landmark moment for the commercial space industry.
Virgin Galactic is expected to start flights with paying customers early next year. More than 600 people are believed to have paid anywhere between $200,000 to $250,000 to reserve their tickets.
The journey so far hasn’t been easy for Virgin Galactic. Along the way, it overcame an accident during a test flight in 2014 that left a co-pilot dead and the pilot badly injured.
