'It was just magical': Billionaire Richard Branson flies to space aboard his own ship

Swashbuckling entrepreneur Richard Branson hurtled into space aboard his own winged rocket ship on Sunday, beating out fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos.

The nearly 71-year-old Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space-tourism company reached an altitude of about 88 kilometres over the New Mexico desert — enough to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth — and then safely glided to a runway landing.

"The whole thing, it was just magical," a jubilant Branson said after the trip home aboard the gleaming white space plane, named Unity.

The brief, up-and-down flight — the rocket ship's portion took only about 15 minutes, or about as long as Alan Shepard's first U.S. spaceflight in 1961 — was a splashy and unabashedly commercial plug for Virgin Galactic, which plans to start taking paying customers on joyrides next year.

Branson became the first person to blast off in his own spaceship, beating Bezos by nine days. He also became only the second septuagenarian to go into space. Astronaut John Glenn flew on the shuttle at age 77 in 1998.

Bezos sent his congratulations, adding: "Can't wait to join the club!" — though he also took to Twitter earlier in the week to enumerate the ways in which be believes his company's rides will be better.

With about 500 people watching, including Branson's family, a twin-fuselage craft with Unity attached underneath took off in the first stage of the flight. Unity then detached from the mother ship at an altitude of about 13 kilometres and fired its engine, reaching more than Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound, as it pierced the edge of space.

Spectators cheered, jumped into the air and embraced as the rocket plane touched down. Branson pumped his fists as he stepped out onto the runway and ran toward his family, bear-hugging his wife and children and scooping up his three grandchildren in his arms.

"That was an amazing accomplishment," former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, a one-time commander of the International Space Station, said from the sidelines. "I'm just so delighted at what this open door is going to lead to now. It's a great moment."

Virgin Galactic conducted three previous test flights into space with crews of just two or three.

The flamboyant, London-born founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways wasn't supposed to fly until later this summer. But he assigned himself to an earlier flight after Bezos announced plans to ride his own rocket into space from Texas on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Branson denied he was trying to outdo Bezos.

Branson's other chief rival in the space-tourism race among the world's richest men, SpaceX's Elon Musk, came to New Mexico to witness the flight, wishing Branson via Twitter, "Godspeed!"

Bezos's Blue Origin company intends to send tourists past the so-called Kármán line 100 kilometres above Earth, which is recognized by international aviation and aerospace federations as the threshold of space.

But NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration and some astrophysicists consider the boundary between the atmosphere and space to begin at 80 kilometres and up.

The risks to Branson and his crew were underscored in 2007, when a rocket motor test in California's Mojave Desert left three workers dead, and in 2014, when a Virgin Galactic rocket plane broke apart during a test flight, killing one pilot and seriously injuring the other.

Dawn of space tourism

Ever the showman, Branson insisted on a global live stream of the Sunday morning flight and invited celebrities and former space station astronauts to the company's Spaceport America base in New Mexico.

R&B singer Khalid performed his new single New Normal — a nod to the dawning of space tourism — while CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert served as master of ceremonies.

Before climbing aboard, Branson, who has kite-surfed the English Channel and attempted to circle the world in a hot-air balloon, signed the astronaut log book and wisecracked: "The name's Branson. Sir Richard Branson. Astronaut Double-oh-one. License to thrill."

WATCH | Richard Branson hurtles into space: 

Richard Branson rockets to space on his own ship

3 years ago

Duration 3:07

Richard Branson won the billionaire space race, beating out Jeff Bezos when he travelled into space on his own Virgin Galactic rocket ship Sunday. These private enterprise expeditions may help usher in an era of space tourism.

Upon his return to Earth, he announced a sweepstakes drawing for two seats on a Virgin Galactic jaunt once tourist flights begin.

Virgin Galactic already has more than 600 reservations from would-be space tourists, with tickets initially costing $250,000 US apiece. Blue Origin is waiting for Bezos's flight before announcing its ticket prices.

Kerianne Flynn, who signed up in 2011 to fly with Virgin Galactic, had butterflies ahead of Sunday's launch.

"I think there's going to be nothing like going up there and looking back down on the Earth, which is what I think I'm most excited about," she said. She added: "Hopefully the next generations will be able to explore what's up there."

Musk's SpaceX, which is already launching astronauts to the space station for NASA and building moon and Mars ships, plans to take tourists on more than just brief, up-and-down trips. They will instead go into orbit around the Earth for days, with seats costing well into the millions. The company's first private flight is set for September.

Musk himself has not committed to going into space any time soon.