Published 13 December 2018 comments Comments Share close Share page Copy link About sharing The latest test flight by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic successfully rocketed to the edge of space and back. The firm’s SpaceShipTwo passenger rocket ship reached a height of 82.7km, beyond the altitude at which US agencies have awarded astronaut wings. It marked the plane’s fourth test flight and followed earlier setbacks in the firm’s space programme. Sir Richard is in a race with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to send the first fee-paying passengers into space. He founded the commercial spaceflight company in 2004, shortly after Mr Musk started SpaceX and Jeff Bezos established Blue Origin. Champagne for space tourists takes flight The billionaires fuelling a space race In 2008, Virgin Galactic first promised sub-orbital spaceflight trips for tourists would be taking place “within 18 months”. It has since regularly made similar promises to have space flights airborne in the near future. Wonderful having @sambranson here on the flightline with @virgingalactic @TheSpaceshipCo pic.twitter.com/PUjuS0xnhW — Richard Branson (@richardbranson) December 13, 2018 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter But delays and a fatal crash in 2014 prevented… Read full this story
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