The moment Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spacecraft detaches from the carrier plane and hits space

The Virgin Galactic ship in which British billionaire Richard Branson travels successfully arrived in space this Sunday, at a height of more than 80 kilometers from Earth.

The VSS Unity spacecraft (the size of a private jet), which was attached to the carrier aircraft, detached from the tanker at an altitude of about 13 kilometers and fired its engine, with which he then reached the spatial frontier more than 80 kilometers high.

On board are two pilots and four passengers: Richard Branson and three employees of his company.

Once the engine was off, passengers could detach from their seats and float for a few minutes in zero gravity, admiring the curvature of the Earth from one of the cabin’s 12 portholes. After reaching a maximum altitude of about 90 kilometers, the spacecraft slipped and landed without any inconvenience.

The limit that marks the beginning of space is, according to American agencies, 80 kilometers from Earth. At this height, the sky gradually turns from deep blue to the black of spatial infinity, and it is possible to float in weightlessness and admire the curvature of the planet.

During the live broadcast, Branson called the trip an “experience of a lifetime” and added, “Congratulations to all of our wonderful Virgin Galactic team for 17 years of hard work to get here.”

After a one and a half hour delay due to weather conditions, the Virgin Galactic company spacecraft took off around 08:40 local time (12:40 GMT) mounted on the VMS Eve propellant spacecraft. Branson has made it his mission to assess the experience of future customers of space flights operated by Virgin Galatic, a company he founded in 2004 and which still has to plan at least three more test flights like this Sunday.

The flight takes place days before Jeff Bezos, founder and until a few days ago chief executive officer of giant Amazon, also travels through space aboard the New Shepard spacecraft, designed and built by his company Blue Origin, and in what the media called the “Millionaires’ Space Race”.

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