Virgin Galactic Aims to <br />Open Up Space Tourism, After Completing First Flight.<br />On July 11, a small Virgin Galactic rocket plane carried founder Richard Branson and five other people to the edge of space and back.<br />The V.S.S. Unity had made three previous trips to space.<br />According to 'The New York Times', this was its first launch that resembled the sort of commercial flight that Virgin Galactic has promised to offer.<br />The rocket plane's two pilots, David Mackay<br />and Michael Masucci, were joined by <br />four crew members including Mr. Branson.<br />Virgin Galactic could begin flying the first paying commercial passengers in 2022, following two more successful test flights.<br />In just nine days, fellow billionaire, Jeff Bezos, <br />the founder of Amazon, is scheduled to make <br />a similar trip to the edge of space.<br />Branson and Bezos are competing to make <br />human spaceflight more routine and <br />capitalize on commercial spaceflights.<br />According to the 'NYT', Blue Origin has yet to announce a ticket price, and Virgin Galactic’s earlier quoted fare of $250,000 is expected to rise
