Liftoff? US allows Virgin Galactic to take paying passengers into space
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has made another small leap in the billionaire space race after being granted permission by US authorities to take paying customers to space.
Its licence was enhanced to allow a full commercial launch on Friday by the US Federal Aviation Administration after a successful test flight last month.
Branson may yet be aboard the first passenger flight, which according to some reports could be as early as 4 July from the New Mexico spaceport, although the firm said this was speculation.
Three more test flights are planned after the 22 May test, where the SpaceShipTwo craft reached space at an altitude of 55.5 miles and a speed of Mach 3, or more than 2,300 miles per hour.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/liftoff-us-allows-virgin-galactic-to-take-paying-passengers-into-space/ar-AALs0zR