“The whole thing, it’s amazing,” the jubilant Branson said after returning home in a shiny white space plane called Unity.

The short up and down flight—the rocket ship section took only about 15 minutes, or about the same length as Alan Shepard’s first U.S. space flight in 1961—is a striking and spectacular sight for Virgin Galactic. Unabashedly commercial plugs, it plans to start accepting customers who pay for a ride next year.

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 enter space. In 1998, 77-year-old astronaut John Glenn took the space shuttle.

Bezos congratulated him and added: “Can’t wait to join the club!”-even though he listed on Twitter earlier this week how he believed his company’s rides would be better.

Watched by about 500 people, including Branson’s family, a twin-fuselage aircraft with Unity on the bottom took off during the first phase of the flight. The Unity then separated from the mothership at an altitude of about 13 kilometers and started the engine. When it penetrated the edge of space, its speed exceeded Mach 3, which is three times the speed of sound.

When the rocket plane landed, the audience cheered, jumped into the air and hugged each other. Branson waved his fist as he walked onto the runway and ran to his family, the bear hugged his wife and children, and his three grandsons in his arms.

“This is a remarkable achievement,” former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who was the commander of the International Space Station, said from the sidelines. “I’m very happy what this open door will bring now. This is a great moment.”

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 denied that he tried to surpass Bezos.

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

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

But NASA, the US Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration, and some astrophysicists believe that the boundary between the atmosphere and space starts at 80 kilometers and above.

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.

The dawn of space tourism

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 sang his new single New normal — Pay tribute to the dawn of space tourism — and CBS Evening show The host Stephen Colbert acted as the emcee.

Before boarding the plane, Branson, who had kitesurfed the English Channel and tried to travel the world in a hot air balloon, signed the astronaut log and said wittyly: “This name is Branson. Sir Richard Branson. . Astronaut double oh one. Exciting license.”

Watch | Richard Branson rushes into space:

Richard Branson won the billionaire space race and defeated Jeff Bezos as he entered space on his Virgin Galactic rocket ship on Sunday. These private ventures may help usher in the era of space tourism. 3:07

After returning to Earth, once the tourist flight started, he announced the lucky draw for two seats in the Virgin Galactic excursion.

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

Kylian Flynn signed to fly with Virgin Galactic in 2011 and had butterflies before launch on Sunday.

She said: “I think there is nothing more exciting than going there and looking back at the earth. This is the most exciting thing for me.” She added: “I hope the next generation can explore what’s there.”

Musk’s SpaceX is already sending astronauts into the space station and building moon and Mars spacecraft for NASA, and it plans to allow tourists not only to make short up and down trips. Instead, they will enter an orbit around the earth for several days, and the cost of a seat can reach millions. The company’s first private flight is scheduled for September.

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