![]() ![]() They also got out of their seats and experienced about four minutes of apparent weightlessness. The acceleration made people on board feel a force up to 3.5 times their normal weight on the way to an altitude of more than 50 miles.Īt the top of the arc, those on board were able to see the blackness of space as well as the curve of Earth from the plane’s windows. There, Unity was released, and the rocket plane’s motor ignited. To get off the ground, Unity was carried by a larger plane to an altitude of about 50,000 feet. The particular SpaceShipTwo that flew on Sunday is named V.S.S. In addition to the two pilots, there can be up to four people in the cabin. The rocket plane, a type called SpaceShipTwo, is about the size of an executive jet. Fallon/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images Unity ignited its rocket engine as the plane flew to the edge of space on Sunday morning. Branson took a stage with his fellow crewmates.Ĭhris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut whose performance of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” from the space station went viral some years ago, then pinned wings on the crewmates’ flight suits that officially designate them as astronauts. Branson, speaking into a camera in the plane’s cabin during the glide, called it “an experience of a lifetime.” Minutes later, the plane began its return to Earth in a glide, and soon landed safely on the spaceport’s runway. Video footage from the live stream showed him and the crew experiencing weightlessness. ![]() and ignited its engine for about 60 seconds, carrying Mr. The space plane separated from the carrier ship around 11:25 a.m. Eastern time from Spaceport America in New Mexico, about 180 miles south of Albuquerque. Branson and his crewmates to the plane on Sunday, and the flight took off on Sunday morning around 10:40 a.m. Virgin Galactic says it still has three more test flights to conduct, including the one on Sunday, before it can be ready for paying passengers.Ĭars drove Mr. In 2004, he founded Virgin Galactic to provide adventurous tourists with rides on rocket-powered planes to the edge of space and back.Īt the time, he thought commercial service would begin in two to three years. Branson, the irreverent, 70-year-old British billionaire who leads a galaxy of Virgin companies. Richard Branson finally got his trip to space on Sunday. The 70-year-old British billionaire and crew members of Virgin Galactic launched the commercial space plane Unity from New Mexico, reached the edge of space and landed safely back at the spaceport on Sunday. ![]()
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