Richard Branson and 3 crewmates flipped in zero-gravity and walked on the ceiling when Virgin Galactic's plane reached the edge of space - take a look
Virgin Galactic
- Richard Branson became the first billionaire to reach the edge of space on Sunday.
- Virgin Galactic's space plane launched with Branson, three crew members, and two pilots.
- They spent five minutes floating in zero gravity before the space plane descended back to Earth.
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Virgin Galactic
Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, and five other people flew to the edge of space on Sunday morning, taking the company one step closer to launching tourists into space in 2022.
Branson was the mission specialist on the flight, which also took Beth Moses, chief astronaut instructor, Colin Bennett, lead operations engineer, and Sirisha Bandla, vice president of government affairs and research, to the edge of space.
All four were standing in as passengers to test the spaceflight.
Two pilots, Dave Mackay and Mike Masucci, flew the space plane, called VVS Unity.
Richard Branson made a speech before he took off his seatbelt.
Virgin Galactic
"To all you kids down there, I was once a child with a dream, looking up to the stars," Branson said in a speech when VVS Unity reached zero gravity.
"Now, I'm an adult in a spaceship with lots of other wonderful adults, looking down to our beautiful, beautiful Earth," he said.
"To the next generation of dreamers, if we can do this, just imagine what you can do," he added. Branson then unfastened his seatbelt to join the other crew members floating around the spacecraft.
Branson and the crew unstrapped themselves from their seats when the space plane reached 55 miles above sea level.Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity shut off its engines when it reached the edge of space, and drifted above the Earth.
At this point, the crew members experienced zero gravity. As soon as they unfastened their seatbelts, they began floating around the space plane.
The crew members flipped upside down, walked on the ceiling, and did forward rolls in the spacecraft.
Virgin Galactic
Branson and the crew spent about five minutes floating around VVS Unity. They walked upside down and spun around with each other in zero gravity.
The space plane has 17 windows for the crew members to look out of and see the Earth below.Virgin Galactic
The crew members could see the curvature of the Earth below them as they floated around the spacecraft.