Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic successfully sends four people into space

Virgin Galactic, owned by Branson,?completed what is expected to be its final test flight Thursday before taking paying customers on brief trips to space.

The company's twin-fuselage VMS Eve carrier plane took off from Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America site in New Mexico around 11:15am ET with a crew of four company employees.

The VSS Unity spaceplane hung 54.2 miles above Earth's surface for three minutes, allowing the space tourists to experience weightlessness for the first time.

Federal aviation authorities banned?Virgin Galactic launches after Branson's maiden flight in 2021 led to an investigation when it veered off course during its descent back to the runway in the New Mexico desert.

Unlike other companies that use vertical-launch rockets, Virgin Galactic uses a carrier aircraft with two pilots who take off from a runway, gain high altitude, and drop a rocket-powered plane that soars into space before gliding back to Earth.

The carrier plane launched with the spacecraft under its belly, which it then released at an altitude of 44,500 feet.

VSS Unity then fired its engine and climbed about 262,000 feet – the altitude recognized as the edge of space.?

'Successful boost, WE HAVE REACHED SPACE!' Virgin Galactic tweeted Thursday.?

The total journey time was 90 minutes, with passengers experiencing a few minutes of weightlessness in the space plane's cabin before returning to Earth at 12:37 pm ET.

The company's Unity 25 mission is a crucial final test flight before it flies its first commercial mission in late June, hoping to carry out a trip roughly every month after that.

The flight comes 22 months after billionaire Branson and employees rode to the edge of space aboard its centerpiece SpaceShipTwo spaceplane.?

Virgin Galactic had hoped that a high-profile mission would open the door to routine flights soon after but experienced a mishap when landing that kept the company grounded until Thursday.

About 800 tickets have been sold over the past decade, with the initial batch going for $200,000 each. Tickets now cost $450,000 per person.?

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