Richard Branson won the “billionaire space race” on Sunday — launching himself and five others more than 50 miles above the Earth to the point of weightlessness in his own Virgin Galactic rocket.
“It was the complete experience of a lifetime,” the beaming British entrepreneur, who will turn 71 in a week, said after shaking the hand of another member of the crew. “Now looking down at the spaceport, congratulations to everybody for creating such a beautiful plane and all the hard work for getting us this far.”
Branson set off with five employees a little after 8:30 a.m. local time from Spaceport America in New Mexico, about 180 miles south of Albuquerque.
Less than an hour after takeoff, the VSS Eve plane released its rocket at an altitude of 53 miles — farther than the 50-mile boundary considered by the US to be the boundary of space.
The crew was then able to unstrap to experience a few minutes of weightlessness before gliding back around 9:40 a.m. to the runway.
A crowd gathered at the tarmac cheered as the plane landed and the crew disembarked, with some spectators jumping into the air and hugging.
Branson, who served as a mission specialist, threw his hands in the air to cheer the landing before jogging down the tarmac for an emotional reunion with his wife, children and grandchildren.
“Like most kids, I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid and honestly nothing could prepare you for the view from space,” Branson said in a ceremony with the crew to receive their wings after landing.
Branson had joined the flight to test the customer experience for future space tourists.
“Initially, I thought testing the customer experience was a little bit of an excuse to get me on it. It wasn’t … It’s so great to get out there and test the customer experience,” he said. “You get lists and lists of the little things and it’s the little details that matter.”
Branson wasn’t due to fly until later this summer but moved up his plans after fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos announced that he would be taking his own rocket into space from West Texas on July 20.
He has denied, however, that he was trying to beat the Blue Origin founder.
The Virgin test flight is the first mission for the company in which all six seats were fully occupied to go to the edge of space.
Branson shared a video of himself cycling up to the facility for takeoff on the passenger rocket plane.
“You’re late! Come on! Let’s get suited up,” Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor, could be heard saying to him.
Before the launch, Branson also tweeted a photo of himself with another billionaire space tourism entrepreneur, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who was there to cheer him on.
“Great to start the morning with a friend. Feeling good, feeling excited, feeling ready,” Branson wrote on Twitter.
Bezos, the third mogul in the “billionaire space race,” wished Branson luck on Instagram.
“Wishing you and the whole team a successful and safe flight tomorrow. Best of luck!” he wrote.
The flight was intended to promote Virgin Galactic, which already has secured more than 600 reservations for its space tourism voyages, with tickets initially running $250,000 apiece.
Branson invited R&B singer Khalid to perform and comedian Stephen Colbert to host a livestream of the mission.
The launch was the company’s 22nd test flight of its SpaceShipTwo system, and its fourth crewed mission beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
With Post wires
