Sir Richard Branson made astronautical history on Sunday afternoon by becoming the first billionaire in space.

The 70-year-old Virgin Galactic founder lifted off from a runway near the small town of Truth and Consequences in New Mexico on the maiden passenger flight of his company's SpaceShipTwo spaceplane.

Dubbed the VSS Unity, it lifted to about 50,000ft by a specially made aeroplane, WhiteKnightTwo, before detaching from the mother ship, firing its hybrid rocket engine and climbing beyond Earth's atmosphere into space.

Sir Richard enjoyed a few minutes of weightlessness and unbeatable views through Unity's 12 windows, before re-entering the atmosphere and gliding back down to a conventional landing.

The flight took about an hour in total.

Read the full story here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/07/11/richard-branson-space-flight-virgin-galactic-launch-watch-live/

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