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Branson, in remarks from his Virgin Galactic flight on Sunday, said the spaceflight was the “complete experience of a lifetime” shortly after the spacecraft successfully took off over New Mexico.

“Now I’m looking down at a beautiful spaceport,” said Branson, who is flying along with two pilots and three Virgin Galactic employees. “Congratulations to everyone for creating such a beautiful, beautiful place.”

Congratulatory posts to Virgin Galactic came in across social media after the flight landed, from NASA officials to astronauts.

The spacecraft returned in a glide to land on the runway in New Mexico, completing the company’s fourth spaceflight to date.

Release! VSS Unity separates from the carrier aircraft and then ignites its engine, firing the spacecraft into a climb. The spacecraft will need to reach more than three times the speed of sound to make it to space.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, shared a fact about the number of people in space if the Unity22 mission is successful. There are 10 people in space before Virgin Galactic launches, on board the International Space Station and the Chinese space station.

VMS Eve and VSS Unity are now abvove 40,000 feet altitude, with release expected near 45,000 feet.

In addition to flying Branson, today’s spaceflight featured other goals, as Virgin Galactic is still testing its spacecraft system, aiming to begin commercial service in early 2022. The four crew members are testing the spacecraft’s cabin and the training program Virgin Galactic has developed, and Bandla will be performing a plant-based experiment for the University of Florida.

Branson and Jeff Bezos are launching themselves into space only weeks apart. But their space planes are traveling different distances, which has triggered an argument over what is actual outer space.

Branson’s Virgin Galactic flies above 80 kilometers, roughly 262,000 feet, which is the height that the U.S. sees as the boundary of space. Bezos’ Blue Origin flies above 100 kilometers, roughly 328,000 feet, an altitude know as the Kármán Line.

“There’s no sort of real international agreement” on the boundary of space, according to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell. But McDowell has argued that 80 kilometers is the clearest boundary of space.

Aircraft VMS Eve has taken off from the Spaceport America runway, carrying spacecraft VSS Unity underneath. The carrier aircraft will bring Unity up to more than 40,000 feet altitude, where it will release and then fire its engine. 

There are multiple things at stake for Sunday’s spaceflight.

First and foremost is the safety of the crew, as Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft will be traveling at more than three times the speed of sound to reach the edge of space. It is manually guided by two Virgin Galactic pilots, rather than autonomously controlled like other spacecraft.

Virgin Galactic is a publicly-traded company, so the stock often swings significantly before and after events such as a spaceflight. Shares move in a speculative manner as Virgin Galactic has yet to begin generating significant revenue.

Jeff Bezos posted on Instagram before the flight, saying he is wishing Richard Branson “and the whole team a successful and safe flight tomorrow. Best of luck!”

The Virgin Galactic crew rode in a set of Land Rovers and drove out the spacecraft VSS Unity and carrier aircraft VMS Eve on the runway before boarding and preparing to takeoff from the runway of Spaceport America. The carrier aircraft will fly the spacecraft steadily up to its release altitude, expected about 50 minutes after takeoff.

A view of the Virgin Galactic crew walking out, from board member Adam Bain:

The Virgin Galactic crew walked out of Spaceport America to board spacecraft VSS Unity. The crew for Sunday’s flight is pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci and passengers Sir Richard Branson, chief astronaut trainer Beth Moses, lead operations engineer Colin Bennett, and VP of government affairs Sirisha Bandla.