Branson poised to beat Bezos into space
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Richard Branson will be on board the first fully crewed test flight of his Virgin Galactic space plane, upstaging Jeff Bezos as the first rocket company owner to fly to space

MISSION PROFILE

1 Air launch: White Knight Two mothership releases SpaceShipTwo (VSS Unity) at 15,000m

2 Boost: Unity’s rocket burns for about 70 seconds at 4,000km/h

3 Apogee: Craft reaches altitude of 90km. Passengers experience five minutes of weightlessness and view of curvature of Earth

Wings “feathered” to slow descent

4 Descent: Wings return to original position to allow craft to glide

5 Landing: Craft returns to Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America in New Mexico

Richard Branson

VSS Unity
Length 18.3m 
Wingspan 8.2m 
Pilots 2 
Passengers 6

“Feathering”:
Twin tails rotate upward to increase drag and control re-entry of vehicle
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Sources: Virgin Galactic, AP, SpaceNews
Picture: Getty Images
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