Virgin Galactic test flight reaches space, taking a step closer to flying tourists there | Washington Post

Later in the article: "Virgin Galactic has nearly 700 people who have paid as much as $250,000 for its suborbital joyrides — more than the 560 or so people who have ever been to space. Eventually the company wants to fly six passengers at a time."

"Virgin Galactic launched a spacecraft more than 50 miles high Thursday, reaching the Federal Aviation Administration’s definition of space and capturing a long-elusive goal for the company founded by Richard Branson that one day wants to fly tourists through the atmosphere.

Though it did not reach orbit, the flight was the first launch of a spacecraft from U.S. soil with humans on board to reach the edge of space since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011. And it effectively opens a new era in human spaceflight, one where companies are working to end governments’ long held monopoly on space, aiming to push farther faster."

Virgin Galactic test flight reaches space, taking a step closer to flying tourists there | Washington Post