Susan Montoya Bryan and Marcia Dunn
Swashbuckling billionaire Richard Branson hurtled into space aboard his own winged rocket ship July 11, bringing astro-tourism a step closer to reality and beating out his exceedingly richer rival Jeff Bezos.
The nearly 71-year-old Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space-tourism company reached an altitude of 53.5 miles (86 kilometers) over the New Mexico desert – enough to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and witness the curvature of the Earth – and then glided back home to a runway landing.
“The whole thing, it was just magical,” a jubilant Branson said on his return aboard the gleaming white space plane, named Unity.
The brief, up-and-down flight – the space plane’s portion took only about 15 minut
