[Updated] Richard Branson Launches Into Space In Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity

From the Virgin Galactic's homeport of Spaceport America in New Mexico, the ompany's billionaire founder Branson, three crewmates and two pilots launched on the historic flight in the company's SpaceShipTwo space plane VSS Unity, after being carried into launch position by the carrier plane VMS Eve.

After takeoff at about 1440 UTC, the carrier plane VMS Eve hauled the SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity (short for Virgin Space Ship) to an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters), when it dropped the spacecraft.

After separation, Unity ignited its hybrid rocket motor, which uses a mixture of solid and liquid propellant, to begin the boost phase. This carried Unity to its target altitude of 53 miles (86 km), where the pilots and crew experienced 4 minutes of weightlessness. They exited their seats and enjoy sweeping views of the Earth below through the many round windows that dot the space plane's fuselage.

After that short encounter with weightlessness, the crew climbed back into their seats as Unity prepares to return to Earth. Pilots Mackay and Masucci "feathered" the spacecraft's twin tail booms to provide stability during atmospheric reentry.

The feathered tail was then locked back into place for the glide back to Earth, which will end with a runway landing at Spaceport America.

Virgin Galactic launch Unity to an altitude above 50 miles (80 km), which NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. military classify as space. They will earn astronaut wings for reaching that height.

Another widely recognized boundary of space, the Kármán line, is at an altitude at 62 miles (100 km) above Earth. The SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity didn't reach this milestone, which has led Virgin Galactic's competitor Blue Origin (which does fly higher than 62 miles) to call out Virgin Galactic for missing that mark.

Unity 22's crew included four mission specialists:

• Sirisha Bandla, Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations at Virgin Galactic. She will evaluate the human-tended research experience via an experiment from the University of Florida that requires several handheld fixation tubes to be activated at various points in the flight profile.

• Colin Bennett, Lead Operations Engineer at Virgin Galactic. He will evaluate cabin equipment, procedures and the experience during the boost phase and weightless environment inside Unity.

• Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic. Branson will evaluate the private astronaut experience. He will receive the same training, preparation and flight as Virgin Galactic's future ticket-buying astronauts and use the flight to fine ways to enhance the experience for customers.

• Beth Moses, Chief Astronaut Instructor at Virgin Galactic. She will serve as cabin lead and test director in space. Her tasks include overseeing the safe execution of the test flight objectives. Moses has launched on Unity before.

Two veteran Virgin Galactic pilots were at the helm of Unity during the launch. They  have both launched to space on Unity before and are: 

• Dave Mackay: Mackay is Virgin Galactic's chief pilot and grew up in the highlands of Scotland. He is a former Royal Air Force pilot and flew for Branson's airline company Virgin Atlantic before joining Virgin Galactic. 

• Michael Masucci: Michael "Sooch" Masucci is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who joined Virgin Galactic in 2013 who racked up over 9,000 flying hours in 70 different types of airplanes and gliders during more than 30 years of civilian and military flight. 

Two other pilots will fly the VMS EVE carrier plane that will carry SpaceShipTwo into launch altitude. They are: 

• Frederick "CJ" Sturckow: A former NASA space shuttle commander who joined Virgin Galactic in 2013 with Masucci. A retired Marine Corps colonel, he was the first NASA astronaut to join the company and flew four space shuttle missions.

• Kelly Latimer: Latimer is a test pilot and retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force who joined Virgin Galactic's pilot corps in 2015. She was the first female research test pilot to join what is now NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center.

The primary objective for Unity 22 is to serve as a test flight for future passenger flights by Virgin Galactic. As its number suggests, this was the 22nd flight of Unity, but only its fourth launch to space.

An early look at VSS Unity suggests a very smooth flight, said Mike Moses, Virgin Galactic’s president of space missions and safety. About the only glitch was some garbled video and audio from inside the passenger cabin, which may be an antenna blockage issue, he said.

“Everything looked perfect in real time,” Moses said, adding that a quick walkaround the vehicle revealed few flaws. “The ship looks pristine—no issues whatsoever.”

“We’ve been to space, everybody! ” Branson cheered during a post-flight press conference. “So thrilling when a lifetime’s dream comes true.”

“I have dreamt about this moment since I was a child, but going to space was more magical than I ever imagined," Branson wrote of the experience.

For Virgin Galactic, the July 11 launch was a major milestone. Branson founded the company in 2004 after SpaceShipOne, a vehicle built by the company Scaled Composites and financed by the late billionaire Paul Allen, won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for reusable commercial spaceflight. 

Branson tapped Scaled Composites to design SpaceShipTwo and its carrier plane, but the road to astronaut launches has been slow and painful. 

A fatal ground accident in 2007 killed three Scaled Composites employees and in 2014, Virgin Galactic’s first SpaceShipTwo, the VSS Enterprise, broke apart during a powered test flight. That tragic accident, attributed to pilot error, killed one pilot and seriously injured another, leading Virgin Galactic to develop new safety systems to prevent it from happening again. 

With this flight, Virgin Galactic appears to be poised to meet its 2022 target for passenger flight. 

WATCH the launch highlight.