Virgin Galactic Makes History with First Commercial Flight to Space

Virgin Galactic has completed its first commercial flight into space, carrying a crew of six on a 90-minute flight to the edge of space.

The flight, from Spaceport America in New Mexico, was on a research mission and the crew carried out 13 scientific research experiments.

The spaceplane landed safely back on the runway at around 4.45pm UK time.

The company has been working for years to send paying passengers on short space trips and in 2021 finally won the federal government's approval and completed its final test flight in May.

Virgin Galactic plans to fly again in early August and has already booked a backlog of some 800 customers, charging from $250,000 to $450,000 per seat.