British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson flying high above New Mexico in the United States with a rocket that has been developed over 17 years.
The trip was, according to him, “the experience of a lifetime”.
He returned to Earth safely after about an hour of takeoff.
“I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was a kid, but honestly, nothing can prepare You for a look at the Earth from outer space,” he said in a press conference after the flight.
“This trip really is a miracle.”
This trip also makes Sir Richard pioneer tourism new space that tested their own rockets, beat Jeff Bezos from Amazon and Elon Musk dengan SpaceX.
The altitude that Sir Richard reached in the rocket plane named Unity was 85 kilometers (282,000 feet; 53 miles).
On the mission, the entrepreneur was accompanied by two pilots, Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, and three Galactic employees – Beth Moses, Colin Bennett and Sirisha Bandla.
The latter three with Sir Richard ride in the commercial astronaut wing after a flight by former space station commander and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.
Sir Richard said his flight was a test of the space tourism experience he hopes to start offering to the public next year.
Get to know Sirisha Bandla, the Indian woman who flies with Virgin Galactic
India celebrates the spaceflight of Sirisha Bandla, a woman of Indian descent who was part of Sir Richard Branson’s team, on a flight to the edge of outer space.
Bandla is the second Indian woman to successfully fly into space after Kalpana Chawla, who died when the space shuttle Columbia crashed on its return to Earth in 2003.
Bandla, who has shown an interest in space from a young age, works as vice president for government affairs at Virgin Galactic.
His grandfather told Reuters news agency: “Since childhood, he has always been fascinated by the sky, looking at the sky, outer space, wanting to go into space and see what’s there”.
Earlier this month, Bandla announced via Twitter that he would be part of the five people who would be piloting the Unity plane.
His presence on this historic flight caused excitement in India, especially in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where he was born.
As soon as the rocket made it back to Earth, congratulations poured in on social media, including from Vice President Venkaiah Naidu.
“I take a notebook with me and write 30 or 40 little things that can make the experience of those who will travel to space with us better,” said Sir Richard.
“The only way you can write this little note is if you get on a plane and go into space and experience it for yourself.”
About 600 people have already paid an advance for this space tour ticket, which costs around $250,000 (about Rp. 3.6 billion).
These were people who wanted to reach heights where they could see the sky blacken and admire the view of the Earth’s horizon, which began to curve from a distance.
The flight will also allow them to experience the sensation of weightlessness for five minutes, and they will be allowed to hover in the Unity cabin.
Sir Richard had a long way to go to get to this point.
He first announced his intention to build a spacecraft in 2004, and believes he can start offering his services commercially in 2007.
But technical difficulties, including a fatal crash during a test flight in 2014, made this space project one of the most challenging endeavors of his career.
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