Virgin Galactic flies its first tourists to the edge of space

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) — Virgin Galactic has rocketed to the edge of space with its first tourists. One passenger bought his ticket 18 years ago. The tourist flight glided back to a runway landing Thursday in the New Mexico desert after the passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness. Aboard the plane-launched spacecraft was a former British Olympian with Parkinson’s disease, and a mother and daughter from the Caribbean who are contest winners. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has now taken seven trips to space since 2018, but this was the first with a ticket-holder. Ticket prices started out at $200,000. Now they’re $450,000.