By: Natasha Archary

Virgin Galactic launched its first successful flight into space on Thursday, 19 June, with 6 people on-board, changing the game for commercial space travel.
The company which is owned by British billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, was founded in 2004, and it’s taken nearly two decades to finally launch its first space flight.
After a number of failed attempts, including one lethal crash, a team of three carried the airline’s first paying customers into space.
On board the VSS Unity spacecraft were a Virgin Galactic pilot, commander, and astronaut instructor, and three paying passengers made up of a mission commander, physician, and engineer.
Launching from Spaceport America in New Mexico, the all Italian crew documented their history making moment in a livestream.
A seat on-board the Virgin Galactic will cost $450 000 (R8.5 million), and the airline will be taking private astronauts on trip to space in August.
Branson’s Virgin Galactic has competition from Jeff Bezo, whose Blue Origin flew civilians with little to no experience in space, further than the VSS Unity.
There’s also Elon Musk’s SpaceX which took avid space travelers on a trip to the international space station.
.@VirginGalactic has completed its inaugural commercial spaceflight from Spaceport America, carrying 13 research payloads and 3 crew from the Italian Air Force & the National Research Council of Italy to space. Ben fatto #Galactic01 https://t.co/7Yh56FGpIU pic.twitter.com/C6h04A9smV
— Virgin (@Virgin) June 29, 2023
WATCH: Virgin Galactic launches its first flight into space
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