Virgin Galactic Aims to Open Up Space Tourism, After Completing First Flight.
On July 11, a small Virgin Galactic rocket plane carried founder Richard Branson and five other people to the edge of space and back.
The V.S.S.
Unity had made three previous trips to space.
According to 'The New York Times', this was its first launch that resembled the sort of commercial flight that Virgin Galactic has promised to offer.
The rocket plane's two pilots, David Mackay and Michael Masucci, were joined by four crew members including Mr. Branson.
Virgin Galactic could begin flying the first paying commercial passengers in 2022, following two more successful test flights.
In just nine days, fellow billionaire, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is scheduled to make a similar trip to the edge of space.
Branson and Bezos are competing to make human spaceflight more routine and capitalize on commercial spaceflights.
According to the 'NYT', Blue Origin has yet to announce a ticket price, and Virgin Galactic’s earlier quoted fare of $250,000 is expected to rise
