Virgin Galactic: Sir Richard Branson rockets to the edge of space

Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur who owns Virgin Galactic, boarded his rocket for its maiden space voyage, debuting private space tourism and beating Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to the private space race.

• Unity, the rocket plane with two pilots, flew the billionaire to the edge of the earth, reaching 282,000 feet up in the sky, and getting back within the hour.
• The flight departed from New Mexico where Elon Musk joined in to support Sir Richard Branson.
• The space project was conceived in 2004 but was delayed due to technical problems including a fatal crash in 2014.

The Virgin Group owner plans to start commercial space tourism in 2022 and has already taken a USD 250,000 deposit from 600 individuals keen on a space ride.

According to Jeff Bezos, the height achieved by the Unity Space rocket is not 100 km, the internationally recognized altitude where one enters space, even though the U.S. Government puts the height at 80 km.