Virgin Galactic's tourist rocket reaches the edge of space in supersonic test flight




Virgin Galactic's tourism spaceship climbed more than 80 kilometres above California's Mojave Desert in a test flight, reaching for the first time what the company considers the boundary of space.

Key points:
  • The spaceship hit an altitude of 82 kilometres before landing on a runway minutes later
  • Virgin Galactic are charging more than 600 people up to $346,000 to travel on the spaceship
  • The six-passenger craft is about the size of an executive jet



The rocket ship hit an altitude of 82 kilometres before beginning its gliding descent, mission official Enrico Palermo said.
It landed on a runway minutes later.

"We made it to space!" Mr Palermo said.


The supersonic flight takes Virgin Galactic closer to turning the long-delayed dream of commercial space tourism into reality.
The company aims to take paying customers on the six-passenger rocket, which is about the size of an executive jet.