Virgin Galactic takes tourists to edge of space

New Mexico: Virgin Galactic, the venture founded by UK billionaire Richard Branson, launched its first commercial flight to the edge of space after decades of promise, reported CNN.

At 8:30 MT, the company's rocket-powered spacecraft, VSS Unity, launched from a spaceport in New Mexico that was attached to a massive twin-fuselage mothership.

As per CNN, it carried three customers, an entrepreneur and health and wellness coach Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastatia Mayers — the first space travelers from Antigua who won their seats in a fundraiser drawing — as well as former Olympian Jon Goodwin, who competed as a canoeist in the 1972 Munich Summer Games. Goodwin became the second person with Parkinson’s disease to travel to space.

The passengers boarded VSS Unity while it sat attached beneath the wing of the mothership, VMS Eve, at Virgin Galactic's spaceport in New Mexico.

VMS Eve took off much like an airplane, barreling down a runway before ascending to more than 40,000 feet (12,192 meters). After reaching its designated altitude, VMS Eve released the VSS Unity, which then fired its rocket engine for about one minute as it swooped directly upward, sending it vaulting toward the stars, reported CNN.

The entire journey lasted for an hour, at the end of its trip, the craft entered free fall and drifted back to the spaceport for a runway landing around 9:30 a.m. MT.

After returning to Earth, Goodwin described it as “a completely surreal experience” and “without a doubt the most exciting day of my lif,” reported CNN.

“I was shocked at the things that you feel,” Mayer said. “You are so much more connected to everything than you would expect to be. You felt like a part of the team, part of the ship, part of the universe, part of Earth. That was incredible and I’m still starstruck.”

“This experience also has given me this beautiful feeling that if I can do this, I can do anything,” Schahaff said, as per CNN.