Ushering ina new space age, Virgin Galactic's billionaire CEO Richard Branson on Sundaytouched the edge of space with three employees, including one of Indian-origin,and has landed safely back to Earth.
"Congratulationsto all those who created such a beautiful space," he said from space.
Bransonflew aboard his Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spaceplane, along with threecompany employees to the edge of space on Sunday a little after 10.30 a.m. ET(8 p.m. India time).
The70-year-old arrived on a bike at the Spaceport America, the world's firstpurpose-built commercial spaceport located in southern New Mexico. VirginGalactic's twin-fuselage WhiteKnight carrier aircraft carried therocket-powered spaceship VSS Unity.
BesidesBranson, the flight included Beth Moses, Chief Astronaut Instructor, ColinBennett, lead Operations Engineer, and Indian-origin Sirisha Bandla, VicePresident of Government Affairs at Virgin Galactic.
Moses wasto serve as cabin lead and test director in space, overseeing the safe andefficient execution of the test flight objectives, while Bennett was toevaluate cabin equipment, procedures, and experience during both the boostphase and in the weightless environment.
Bandla wasto evaluate the human-tended research experience, using an experiment from theUniversity of Florida that requires several handheld fixation tubes that wereto be activated at various points in the flight profile, and Branson was toevaluate the private astronaut experience, undergoing the same training,preparation and flight as Virgin Galactic's future astronauts.
The pilotswere Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci flying VSS Unity, and CJ Sturckow andKelly Latimer flying VMS Eve.
About 40minutes after takeoff, Unity dropped from the middle of the mothership andignited its rocket engine moments later to send Branson and the crew to theedge of space, about 89 kms high, for a few minutes of weightlessness.
The flightwas earlier scheduled for 6.30 pm (India time), but was delayed due to badovernight weather in the launch area, the company said in a tweet.
"Overnightweather delayed the start of flight preparations, but we are on track to flytoday with a newly scheduled time.
"NEWTIME: Watch #UNITY22 launch and livestream TODAY at 7:30 am PT | 10:30 am ET |3:30 pm BST," it said.
Themission, called Unity 22, was Virgin Galactic's fourth flight to space carryinghumans, with its largest crew yet.
Meanwhile,Branson also posted a picture with Tesla CEO Elon Musk hours before the spaceflight.
"Bigday ahead. Great to start the morning with a friend. Feeling good, feelingexcited, feeling ready," Branson tweeted.
Musk had aday earlier tweeted: "Will see you there to wish you the best."
Bransonsaid that as a child he dreamt of space, and 17 years after he founded his ownspace company Virgin Galactic in 2004, the 70-year-old was flying to space.
"Mymission statement is to turn the dream of space travel into a reality - for mygrandchildren, for your grandchildren, for everyone," Branson had shared,in a tweet, earlier in the day.
Bransonsaid he will "announce something very exciting" after hisspaceflight, reports The Verge.
VirginGalactic aims to fly two more flights, then the start of regular commercialoperations from early 2022. The ultimate goal is to conduct 400 flights peryear.
The companyhas already sold nearly 600 tickets, with each ticket costing nearly $250,000.
AfterBranson, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos is expected to take off in his own spacetourism Blue Origin rocket on July 20. Bezos will fly with his brother Mark andtwo others.
The Karmanline, 100 kms above the ground, is the boundary of space.
BlueOrigin's New Shepard rocket aims to launch its crew capsule just beyond theKarman line for a few minutes of weightlessness, while Virgin Galactic'sSpaceShipTwo space plane flew 89 kms high -- just over the boundary of spacedefined by the US government.