Veteran NASA Astronaut Tom Jones asserted on "Fox News Live" on Sunday that Virgin Galactic's historic spaceflight opens "the door to space tourism." Jones, who flew on four space shuttle missions and spent 53 days working and living in space, called Virgin Galactic's spaceflight "a great step forward." Jones explained that the successful journey is significant because "it’s the opening of the door to space tourism, and that’s a new expansion of the economy in space." He noted that Virgin Galactic would make the trip shorter and cheaper "and so it opens access to a wider population of prospective space travelers." He pointed to 2014, when a Virgin Galactic rocket plane broke apart during a test flight, killing one pilot and seriously injuring the other.

Source: Fox News July 11, 2021 20:26 UTC