Richard Branson Has Completed A Historic Trip To The Edge Of Space On Virgin Galactic
The rocket plane carrying Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and other crew members takes off from Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, N.M. Sunday, July 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton) Andres Leighton/AP hide caption
The rocket plane carrying Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and other crew members takes off from Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, N.M. Sunday, July 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Sir Richard Branson and a crew of three others grazed the edge of space on Sunday in a rocket built by the British billionaire's company, Virgin Galactic. The flight ushers in a new chapter in the world of aeronautics, with Virgin Galactic among a handful of ambitious and well-funded ventures racing to commercialize travel to space.
Lifting off from Spaceport America in Las Cruces, N.M., — a commercial space flight center about 180 miles south of Albuquerque —Branson was among a crew of four "mission specialists" who reached speeds three times the speed of sound.
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