Sunday's launch of the VSS Unity passenger rocket plane marked the company's 22nd test flight of its SpaceShipTwo system, and its fourth crewed mission beyond Earth's atmosphere. Heralding a new space tourism era, Branson reached space with three employees, including one of Indian-origin, leaving Jeff Bezos to follow his route on July 20. Also read Billionaire Richard Branson set to fly to space - Know about his Indian connectionBranson flew aboard his Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spaceplane, along with three company employees to the edge of space a little after 10:30 a.m. The pilots are Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci flying VSS Unity, and CJ Sturckow and Kelly Latimer flying VMS Eve. Virgin Galactic's twin-fuselage WhiteKnight carrier aircraft carried the rocket-powered spaceship VSS Unity.

Source: dna July 11, 2021 16:30 UTC