We all sort of rolled our eyes a bit when Richard Branson announced he'd be making the move into space travel. I mean, what else would you get the man who's got everything? A rocket, obvs. Well, he's only bloody gone and done it, hasn't he - and the footage is genuinely INCREDIBLE.
Virgin Galactic's latest test flight managed to successfully launch a tourism rocket ship into space for the very first time - prompting an emotional Branson to do a little cry. Bless 'im.
For its fourth test flight on Thursday, the SpaceShipTwo passenger rocket ship reached a height of 82.7km - which the company considers to be the boundary of space, based on recent research, even though the long-held belief is that the boundary isn't reached until 100km.
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After the rocket successfully returned to Earth, Richard Branson told Sky News: "After 14 hard years, to have taken Virgin Galactic into space has been a momentous, historic occasion."
He then reportedly cried, while high fiving and hugging spectators.
Branson is currently having a huge dick-swinging contest with fellow big dogs Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who are all competing with each other to become the first to send paying passengers into space.
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Branson founded Virgin Galactic back in 2004, shortly after Musk started SpaceX and Bezos started Blue Origin.
Come on, LADs, it'd just be cheaper to whip them out and measure them.
Four years after Virgin Galactic was established, it promised sub-orbital spaceflight trips for tourists 'within 18 months', but delays and a fatal crash in 2014 have created setbacks.
But Thursday's flight, which took off from the Mojave Desert in California, was a huge landmark for the company. The spaceship's motor burned for 60 seconds, travelling at 2.9 times the speed of sound.
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It was carrying two pilots and four NASA research payloads, as well as a mannequin named Annie, who was acting as a stand-in passenger.
Sadly, the historic moment hasn't arrived in time for the late Stephen Hawking, who had said he was well up for ticking off one of his life goals by setting off into space with Virgin Galactic.
The physicist and cosmologist was offered the opportunity for a seat on the Virgin Galactic flight into space, and you'd better believe he said yes.
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Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain, Professor Hawking explained: "I said yes immediately."
In the interview, he went on to say that his three children have brought him 'great joy', before adding: "I can tell you what will make me happy - to travel in space."
Featured Image Credit: PA/Instagram
Topics: World News, News, Richard Branson, space
