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Sir Richard Branson reaches stars, makes history in his own rocket plane | FULL

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British billionaire Richard Branson reached space Sunday as his Virgin Galactic rocket plane soared more than 80 kilometres above New Mexico on the vehicle's first fully-crewed test flight.

Branson, one of six Virgin Galactic Holding Inc employees strapping in for the flight, has touted the mission as a precursor to a new era of space tourism, with the company he founded poised to begin commercial operations next year.

Sunday's high-altitude launch of the VSS Unity rocket plane marks the company's 22nd test flight of its SpaceShipTwo system. It is also the first to carry a full complement of space travellers - two pilots and four "mission specialists," the 70-year-old Branson among them.

The gleaming white spaceplane was borne aloft attached to the underside of a specially designed twin-fuselage carrier jet VMS Eve - named for Branson's late mother, which took off at around 10:40 a.m. EDT (1440 GMT).

Separating from the mothership when it reached an altitude of 13 kilometres, Unity's rocket engine ignited, sending the spaceplane streaking straight upward to the blackness of space some 88 kilometres high – enough for the crew to experience about four minutes of weightlessness.

With the engine shut down near the peak of its climb, the craft then shifted into re-entry mode before gliding back to a runway landing at the spaceport. The entire flight, from takeoff to touchdown, took about 90 minutes.

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Category
U.S. & Canada
Tags
global news, Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic
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