![]() ![]() ![]() Branson founded the company in 2004 after SpaceShipOne, a vehicle built by the company Scaled Composites and financed by the late billionaire Paul Allen, won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for reusable commercial spaceflight.īranson tapped Scaled Composites to design SpaceShipTwo and its carrier plane, but the road to astronaut launches has been slow and painful.Ī fatal ground accident in 2007 killed three Scaled Composites employees and in 2014, Virgin Galactic's first SpaceShipTwo, the VSS Enterprise, broke apart during a powered test flight. "The ship looks pristine - no issues whatsoever."įor Virgin Galactic, today's launch was a major milestone. "Everything looked perfect in real time," Moses said, adding that a quick walkaround the vehicle revealed few flaws. About the only glitch was some garbled video and audio from inside the passenger cabin, which may be an antenna blockage issue, he said. "So thrilling when a lifetime's dream comes true."Īn early look at VSS Unity suggests a very smooth flight, said Mike Moses, Virgin Galactic's president of space missions and safety. ![]() "We've been to space, everybody! " Branson cheered during a post-flight press conference. Finally, the first time flyers - Bandla, Branson and Bennett - each got special Virgin Galactic astronaut wings with a tiny SpaceShipTwo on them. Singer Khalid debuted his new single "New Normal" after landing (Branson and his crew got to listen to it during their glide back to Earth), and comedian Stephen Colbert of The Late Show hosted the company's live webcast.īranson even announced a new partnership between Virgin Galactic and Omaze to raffle off two free tickets to space. One friend of Branson's, SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk, was in the audience and wished his fellow billionaire well. Virgin Galactic invited a crowd of guests to the launch, including customers with reservations for future flights (they're paying $250,000 a seat for the trip). ![]()
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