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TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, New Mexico - Swashbuckling billionaire Richard Branson hurtled into space aboard his own winged rocket ship Sunday, 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 minutes, or about as long as Alan Shepard's first U.S. spaceflight in 1961 — was a splashy and unabashedly commercial plug for Virgin Galactic, which plans to start taking paying customers on joyrides next year.

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic

Branson became the first person to blast off in his own spaceship, beating Bezos, the richest person on the planet, by nine days. He also became the second septuagenarian to go into space. Astronaut John Glenn flew on the shuttle at age 77 in 1998.

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic

Bezos sent his congratulations, adding: “Can’t wait to join the club!” — though he also took to Twitter a couple of days earlier to enumerate the ways in which be believes his company’s tourist rides will be better.

With about 500 people watching, including Branson's family, Unity was carried aloft underneath a twin-fuselage aircraft. Then, at an altitude of about 8 1/2 miles (13 kilometers), Unity detached from the mother ship and fired its engine, reaching more than Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound, as it pierced the edge of space.

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic

Spectators cheered, jumped into the air and embraced as the rocket plane touched down on Earth. Branson pumped his fists as he stepped out onto the runway and ran toward his family, bear-hugging his wife and children and scooping up his grandchildren in his arms.

Mike Moses, a top executive at Virgin Galactic, said that apart from some problems with the transmission of video images from inside the cabin, the flight was perfect, and the ship looked pristine.

“That was an amazing accomplishment,” former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, a one-time commander of the International Space Station, said from the sidelines. “I’m just so delighted at what this open door is going to lead to now. It’s a great moment.”

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic conducted three previous test flights into space with crews of just two or three.

The flamboyant, London-born founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways wasn’t supposed to fly until later this summer. But he assigned himself to an earlier flight after Bezos announced plans to ride his own rocket into space from Texas on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Branson denied he was trying to outdo Bezos.

Branson’s other chief rival in the space-tourism race among the world’s richest men, SpaceX’s Elon Musk, came to New Mexico to watch and congratulated Branson for a “beautiful flight.”

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race

Bezos’ Blue Origin company intends to send tourists past the so-called Karman line 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth, which is recognized by international aviation and aerospace federations as the threshold of space.

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic

But NASA, the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration and some astrophysicists consider the boundary between the atmosphere and space to begin 50 miles (80 kilometers) up.

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic

The risks to Branson and his crew were underscored in 2007, when a rocket motor test in California’s Mojave Desert left three workers dead, and in 2014, when a Virgin Galactic rocket plane broke apart during a test flight, killing one pilot and seriously injuring the other.

Ever the showman, Branson insisted on a global livestream of the Sunday morning flight and invited celebrities and former space station astronauts to the company’s Spaceport America base in New Mexico. R&B singer Khalid performed his new single “New Normal” — a nod to the dawning of space tourism — while CBS “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert served as master of ceremonies.

Before climbing aboard, Branson, who has kite-surfed the English Channel and attempted to circle the world in a hot-air balloon, signed the astronaut log book and wisecracked: “The name’s Branson. Sir Richard Branson. Astronaut Double-oh-one. License to thrill.”

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic

But asked afterward whether he is planning any more adventures, Branson said he will “definitely give it a rest for the time being" because “I'm not sure it would be fair to put my family through another one.” He said he thinks he holds the record for being pulled out of the sea five times by helicopter.

Virgin Galactic already has more than 600 reservations from would-be space tourists, with tickets initially costing $250,000 apiece. And upon his return to Earth, Branson announced a sweepstakes drawing for two seats on a Virgin Galactic jaunt. Blue Origin is waiting for Bezos’ flight before announcing its ticket prices.

Kerianne Flynn, who signed up in 2011 to fly with Virgin Galactic, had butterflies ahead of the launch Sunday.

“I think there’s going to be nothing like going up there and looking back down on the Earth, which is what I think I’m most excited about,” she said. She added: “Hopefully the next generations will be able to explore what’s up there."

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic

Blue Origin and Musk’s SpaceX both fly Apollo-style, using capsules atop rockets, instead of an air-launched, reusable space plane. SpaceX, which is already launching astronauts to the space station for NASA and building moon and Mars ships, plans to take tourists on more than just brief, up-and-down trips. Customers will instead go into orbit around the Earth for days, with seats costing well into the millions. The company's first private flight is set for September.

Musk himself has not committed to going into space anytime soon.

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic made astronaut wings pin from Canadian astronaut

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, left, receives a Virgin Galactic made astronaut wings pin from Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield after his flight to space from Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, N.M., Sunday, July 11, 2021

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race 4 Virgin Galactic carrying billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson and his crew

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic’s passenger rocket plane VSS Unity, carrying billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson and his crew takes off from Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, on Sunday.

Meet the crew joining Sir Richard Branson aboard his Virgin Galactic spaceship ( Visum Expresso 11-07-2021 News )

Richard Branson takes off first in space tourism race Virgin Galactic Meet the crew joining Sir Richard Branson

Unity22 was lift off from New Mexico at 14:00BST Sunday, Aboard the Virgin Galactic flight will be (from left) Chief Pilot Dave Mackay, Lead Operations Engineer Colin Bennett, Chief Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses, Founder of Virgin Galactic Richard Branson, Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations Sirisha Bandla and pilot Michael Masucci. (Photo: Virgin Galactic Site )
70-year-old Sir Richard will be accompanied by passengers Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor; Colin Bennett, lead operations engineer at the company; and Sirisha Bandla, the vice president of government affairs and research operations.

Chief pilot Dave Mackay and pilot Michael Masucci, who have clocked up thousands of piloting hours between them, will be in the cockpit.

In a video posted online, the crew spoke of their excitement ahead of the trip.

Ms Bandla, whose role will be testing the researcher experience, said that when she first heard she would have the opportunity to join the flight, she was “speechless”.

“Ever since I got the news I was going to space I’ve been dreaming about it, so I’m just so excited,” she said.

Ms Bandla, who will be only the second Indian-born woman to fly into space, added: “This is an incredible opportunity to get people from different backgrounds, different geographies, different communities into space.”

Mr Bennett’s role on the spacecraft will be evaluating cabin procedures during boost and weightlessness.

The former student at Clevedon School in North Somerset said: “When I was younger I assumed that space was only available to a very select few.

“I had no idea myself that I would ever be in a position to go to space myself, but here I am.”

Ms Moses, cabin lead and test director, is the only veteran astronaut among the passengers after she became the first woman to make a flight on a commercially launched spaceship in February 2019.

In an interview with the BBC, she described how it felt to experience weightlessness on the voyage.

“It’s always a big joy, a big thrill, it’s sort of an instant laughter – you just feel light and free and wonderful,” she said.

She said the sight of Earth through the window was “stuck in my soul, it’s totally beautiful”.

Ms Moses remembers dreaming of going to space when she was young and hopes the flight will inspire others.

“It’s the little tiny kid looking up at the stars, the little girl making model rockets…we are here for something bigger than ourselves,” she said.

“The ultimate vision and dream is to one day have space travel for everyone.”

Sir Richard also answered a number of questions about the flight in a short series of videos on Twitter.

Asked what he will be doing at zero gravity, he said: “I’ll be looking back at earth and taking it all in, and realising that only 500 other people have ever done this.”

When the crew land, he said he would “celebrate with family, friends, grandchildren, children” with “a great, great grin on my face”

 

"To all you kids down there..." - @RichardBranson's message from zero gravity. #Unity22

Watch the livestream: https://t.co/5UalYT7Hjb pic.twitter.com/lYXHNsDQcU

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) July 11, 2021

 Richard Branson Tweeted  I was once a child with a dream looking up to the stars. Now I'm an adult in a spaceship looking down to our beautiful Earth. To the next generation of dreamers: if we can do this, just imagine what you can do

 

I was once a child with a dream looking up to the stars. Now I'm an adult in a spaceship looking down to our beautiful Earth. To the next generation of dreamers: if we can do this, just imagine what you can do https://t.co/Wyzj0nOBgX #Unity22 @virgingalactic pic.twitter.com/03EJmKiH8V

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 11, 2021

2 days until #Unity22! Watch the launch live this Sunday at 6am PT | 9am ET | 2pm BST with @StephenAtHome @thegreatkhalid @Cmdr_Hadfield @KellieGerardi @virgingalactic pic.twitter.com/tpjIqeVE0L

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 10, 2021

Welcome Sirisha Bandla, Colin Bennett, and Beth Moses — our expert crew members joining @richardbranson on our #Unity22 test flight. Watch LIVE this Sunday at https://t.co/5UalYT7Hjb. @SirishaBandla @VGChiefTrainer pic.twitter.com/F4ZrGnH3vo

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) July 5, 2021