Branson’s Virgin Galactic flies higher and faster than ever before

During the flight, Chief Pilot Dave Mackay and co-pilot Michael “Sooch” Masucci took the spacecraft to an altitude of 295,007ft (89,918 m) and reached a speed of Mach 3.04 (2,255 mph)

The latest test takes Sir Richard Branson’s project a step closer to its goal of introducing commercial sub-orbital space flight. This refers to spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but doesn’t reach an altitude where it orbits the Earth. The company has previously said that it hopes to begin commercial flights by the end of 2019.  So far, around 700 people have signed up to take a ride on the spacecraft.

The reusable spaceplane was launched from the Mojave space port in California aboard the company’s giant composite carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo. It was released from the carrier craft at an altitude of 44,000 feet (13411 metres) before being catapulted 55 miles above the Earth by VSS Unity’s powerful hybrid rocket engine.

During the flight, the crew enjoyed several minutes of weightlessness while the pilots “feathered” the spaceship in preparation for a Mach 2.7 re-entry.