Virgin Galactic launch: WATCH incredible footage of Richard Branson spacecraft over Earth

And in addition to pilots Dave Mackay and Michael “Sooch” Masucci, a third Virgin Galactic staff member, Beth Moses, was on board – the first passenger ever carried.

“Welcome to the club, astronauts,” says one of the ground controllers.

Part of the flight’s purpose was to provide more data about how the human body adapts to space during SpaceShipTwo flights, and how passengers feel.

VSS Unity also carried four NASA payloads, used to studying data from dust particles’ effects, payload vibration and liquid/gas interactions.

Last week’s landmark Virgin Galactic mission actually achieved a maximum altitude some 4.4 miles (7 km higher) than its historic first flight in December 2018.

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