 for his ticket. The 80-year-old purchased his spot on the flight back in 2005. Antiguan mother and daughter Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers are set to be the other tourists on the flight. The 46-year-old mother and her 18-year-old daughter, who is an Aberdeen University student, won their tickets in a sweepstake competition. Virgin Galactic will launch the space flight from its base in New Mexico. The flight involves a mothership plane that carries the space vehicle up to a point where it can be released and shoot to space. The release is set to happen at around 9:15am local time, which is 4:15pm BST and 11:15am ET. A live stream will start at 9am local time and can be viewed on YouTube. The flight is expected to reach a height of 50 miles above sea level. This will provide views of the Earth and a feeling of weightlessness for the passengers. They'll be able to remove their seatbelts and float around the plane.){kind=link}
VIRGIN Galactic has launched its first space tourism flight.
The plane that will carry the spacecraft up to where it will be released into space is now in the air.
Sir Richard Branson’s space firm will follow in the footsteps of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos by sending paying customers to space.
The Galactic 02 mission will have six crew members, three of whom are tourists.
Retired British Olympian Jon Goodwin paid $250,000 (£191,000) for his ticket.