Congratulations to Sir Richard Branson and his team at Virgin Galactic. It has been a long road with many interesting twists and turns. He never ceases to amaze. A perfect flight today and it was spectacular to see. The man that road out a Category 5 eye of Hurricane Irma. (click here) Sir Richard never stopped his dedication to the UK, he mourned his employee losses in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria (click here). Once again, Congratulations Sir Richard Branson on a job well done.
By Jonathan Amos
Billionaire Sir Richard Branson (click here) has successfully reached the edge of space on board his Virgin Galactic rocket plane.
The UK entrepreneur flew high above New Mexico in the US in the vehicle that his company has been developing for 17 years.
The trip was, he said, the "experience of a lifetime".
He returned safely to Earth just over an hour after leaving the ground.
"I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid, but honestly nothing can prepare you for the view of Earth from space," he said in a press conference following the flight. "The whole thing was just magical."
The trip also makes him the first of the new space tourism pioneers to try out their own vehicles, beating Amazon's Jeff Bezos and SpaceX's Elon Musk....
