Author: Susan Montoya Bryan and Marcia Dunn

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (Associated Press)-Bluffing entrepreneur Richard Branson rushed into space on his own winged rocket ship on Sunday in his most daring adventure to date, defeating the billionaire Jeff Bezos.

The nearly 71-year-old Branson and five crew members of his Virgin Galactic Space Travel Company reached an altitude of about 53 miles (88 kilometers) above the New Mexico desert—enough to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and see the earth ——Then glide home safely and land on the runway.

“Seventeen years of hard work has brought us to this point,” the jubilant Branson said as he congratulated his team on returning.

Branson became the first person to take off on his own spacecraft, 9 days ahead of Bezos. He also became the second man in his seventies to go to space. (John Glenn took the space shuttle in 1998 at the age of 77.)

With about 500 people watching, including Branson’s wife, children and grandson, a twin-fuselage plane and his space plane took off during the first phase of the flight.

Subsequently, the space plane detached from the mothership at an altitude of approximately 8 1/2 miles (13 kilometers) and started its engines, reaching the edge of space. On this sleek white ship named Unity, the entire flight time was less than 15 minutes.

Virgin Galactic has conducted three space test flights before, with only two to three crew members.

The founder of Virgin Atlantic, who was born in London and was a personable Virgin Atlantic, was supposed to take off later this summer. But after Bezos announced plans to send his rocket from Texas into space on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, he assigned himself to an earlier flight. .

Branson, who had been kitesurfing in the English Channel and trying to travel the world in a hot air balloon, denied that he tried to defeat Bezos.

Another major competitor of Branson in the world’s richest man in the space travel race, SpaceX’s Elon Musk arrived in New Mexico to witness the flight, and via Twitter wished Branson “God Bless!”

Bezos also expressed his wishes for a safe and successful flight, although he also listed on Twitter ways to believe that his company’s rides will become better.

Bezos’ Blue Origin company intends to send tourists through the so-called Carmen Line 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the Earth, which is recognized by the International Aerospace Federation as a threshold for space.

But NASA, the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration, and some astrophysicists believe that the boundary between the atmosphere and space starts at 50 miles (80 kilometers).

The risks facing Branson and his crew were highlighted in 2007, when a rocket engine test in the Mojave Desert in California resulted in the deaths of three workers. In 2014, a Virgin Galactic rocket plane broke during a test flight, causing One pilot died and the other was seriously injured.

As a performer, Branson insisted on the global live broadcast of the flight on Sunday morning and invited celebrities and former space station astronauts to the company’s US Spaceport base in New Mexico.

R&B singer Khalid will perform his new single “New Normal” live on the scene-paying tribute to the dawn of space tourism-and CBS “Evening Show” host Stephen Colbert will act as the emcee of the event.

Virgin Galactic already has more than 600 reservations from space travelers, and the initial ticket price was US$250,000 per person. Blue Origin is waiting for Bezos’ flight before announcing the fare.

Musk’s SpaceX is already sending astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA, is building moon and Mars spacecraft, and is also competing for space tourism revenue. But its capsule is more than just a short, ups and downs attempt. They will enter orbit around the earth, and the cost of seats can reach millions. Its first private flight is scheduled for September.

Musk himself did not promise to enter space in the short term.

“This is a new horizon, new opportunity, new destination,” said former NASA astronaut Chris Ferguson, who commanded the last space shuttle flight 10 years ago. He now works for Boeing, which is flying its own capsule.

“It’s really a bit like the emergence of commercial air travel, just 100 years later,” Ferguson added. “There is a lot of waiting.”

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The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. AP is solely responsible for all content.