WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Virgin Galactic on Thursday blasted three tourists to the edge of space aboard its air-launched VSS Unity spaceplane, a live stream showed, the Richard Branson-founded company’s second commercial mission as it starts routine flights.
The rocket-powered VSS Unity craft dropped from the carrier plane over New Mexico around 9:20 a.m. local time and blasted its four passengers, a company instructor and three tourists, to an altitude of roughly 55 miles (88.51 km).
(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Mark Porter and Richard Chang)