Richard Branson's spaceship reaches space for the first time

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Unity spacecraft has reached the edge of space for the first time and successfully returned to earth, reports CNBC . This is a turning point for commercial spaceflight: it now only takes two or three test flights before Virgin Galactic can send its first tourists on a suborbital flight.

Read more . A two-pilot Unity test flight took place over the Mojave Desert in southern California. The SpaceShipTwo class suborbital rocket manned spaceplane has risen to an altitude of more than 80 km. According to NASA classification, pilots at this altitude are considered astronauts.

• Unity was launched at an altitude of 15 km from the carrier aircraft Eve. At a height of 83 km, the ship delivered a rocket engine that worked for 60 seconds. Thanks to him, the spaceplane developed a speed of 2.9 times the speed of sound.

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Why is it important. Thanks to Branson's company, space travel could become much more affordable. The ticket price on his spaceship is $250,000, and more than 600 people have already booked seats. And for their dream to come true, Virgin Galactic needs only two or three test flights into space, says CEO George Whiteside.

Egor Sonin