TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) -- 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 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.
Heading 1
"The whole thing, it was just magical," a jubilant Branson said on his return aboard the gleaming white space plane, named Unity.
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) -- 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.
Caption for inline image Photo Credit: this is test photo credit
The nearly 71-year-old Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space-tourism company reached an altitude of 53.5 miles 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.
Heading 2
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) -- 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 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.
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) -- 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.
Sidebar caption Photo Credit: test credit
This is sidebar text on the article for testing.
Heading 3
The nearly 71-year-old Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space-tourism company reached an altitude of 53.5 miles 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 nearly 71-year-old Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space-tourism company reached an altitude of 53.5 miles 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.
Pull Quote text– Att Line 1, Att Line 2
"The whole thing, it was just magical," a jubilant Branson said on his return aboard the gleaming white space plane, named Unity.
Caribbean
Westin