Virgin Galactic has taken its first tourists to the edge of space.
The company, founded by Sir Richard Branson, took an 80-year-old former Olympian and a mother and daughter about 55 miles (88km) above Earth where the passengers experienced zero gravity during the flight which lasted just more than an hour.
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Jon Goodwin, from Newcastle, had competed in canoeing at the 1972 Games in Munich, while Keisha Schahaff, 46, and her 18-year-old daughter Anastatia Mayers, an Aberdeen University student, became the first astronauts from the Caribbean.
Pilots CJ Sturckow and Kelly Latimer, alongside astronaut instructor Beth Moses, joined the tourists on the VSS Unity, which took off around 8.30am local time (3.30pm UK time) at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
The VSS Unity separated from its carrier plane, the VMS Eve, at 9.17am (4.17pm UK time), at an altitude of about 44,500ft, and ignited its rocket to fire upwards for around a minute.
Just two minutes later, footage from inside VSS Unity showed the passengers out of their seats, weightless and peering at the Earth outside the rocket’s windows.
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First space flight for tourists lifts off
Further footage from cameras mounted outside of the rocket showed the curvature of the Earth.
The VSS Unity landed at Spaceport America at 9.33am (4.33pm UK time) It was met by applause from those watching on from Virgin Galactic, with the passengers smiling and…
