Flying at Mach 3 and reaching more than 55 miles above the Earth Saturday, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s private spaceship company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (SPCE.N) on Saturday completed its first manned space flight from its new home port in New Mexico.
“It was electric,” Branson told a press conference.
“The whole thing went exactly as predicted,” he said. “It was elegant, it was beautiful. We had all the lots of family and friends and relatives here.”
He added that there was also a sense of relief that the pilots landed safely. “Obviously in these early days of test flights, you’re relieved as much as excited. But it was just one of those magical days.”
The success cues up Virgin Galactic to begin launching paying customers within the next year as the company works to finish its testing campaign in New Mexico.
This is a milestone in Branson’s near two-decades effort to create a commercial “spaceline” to take paying customers into outer space. About 600 customers have already put down deposits on tickets to finally get the chance to fly after waiting years for the opportunity.
Touted as the first human spaceflight from the state, pilots, C.J. Sturckow and Dave Mackay, fired the engine of the space plane known as SpaceShipTwo Unity, and lifted off in the desert about 45 miles northeast of Las Cruces, New Mexico, about 10:35 a.m.
About 50 minutes later, traveling at more than 2,300 miles an hour, it reached 55 miles, past the threshold at which the Federal Aviation Administration recognizes that a person has reached space.
The spacecraft then fell back toward Earth, as the pilots guided it to the tarmac of Spaceport America, Branson’s name for his New Mexico headquarters.
“Welcome to space” the company posted on Twitter.
Branson shared videos of the flight on social media and said on Twitter, “Delighted to be on the flightline to Virgin Galactic’s first human spaceflight from the majestic Spaceport America.”
REUTERS