Virgin Galactic sent Richard Branson to the edge of space: review the livestream

Update: Richard Branson has been successfully launched into space. Read about it here.

Richard Branson, the 70-year-old billionaire behind space tourism company Virgin Galactic, is no stranger to making headlines – he’s once driven a tank down Fifth Avenue promoting a new brand of cola. His most recent and perhaps most extreme endeavor is to fly into space aboard the company’s rocket, known as VSS Unity.

On Sunday, Branson launched into the stratosphere (and a little beyond) in his spaceship. The mission, dubbed Unity 22, was available to stream via the CNET Highlights YouTube channel. You can now watch the replay below.

Eric Mack, CNET space guru and science writer, was on the ground at Virgin’s Spaceport America during mission preparation and captured the events leading up to the historic moment. You can also get more goodness behind the scenes by following Eric on Twitter and Instagram. @EricCMack.

And don’t forget – Branson isn’t the only billionaire to make it to space this month. Former Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to pilot first crewed Blue Origin rocket in space on July 20.

Update July 10: Removed reference to Mojave Desert because it was incorrect. Forgive my terrible geography.