Planet and Beyond
Billionaire Mr. Richard Branson has successfully reached the edge of space on board his Virgin Galactic rocket plane.
The UK entrepreneur flew high above New Mexico in the US in the vehicle that his company has been developing for 17 years. The trip was, he said, the "experience of a lifetime". He returned safely to Earth just over an hour after leaving the ground.
Virgin Galactic (VG) is an American space flight company founded by Mr. Richard Branson and his British Virgin Group retains a 24% stake. It is headquartered in California, USA and operates from New Mexico.
The company is developing commercial spacecraftand aims to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two. Virgin Galactic‘s maiden spaceflight occurred in 2018 with its VSS Unity spaceship.Branson had originally hoped to see a maiden spaceflight by 2010,but the date was delayed for several years, primarily due to the October 2014 crash of VSS Enterprise.