path to space. from my perspective whether or not you are a space expert or geek, i say that with respect, this is a story about big dreams and incredible risk taking, innovations, and failing, and moving forward regardless. so it is a story we can all be captivated by and really inspired by. taking away from the billionaires, even though their dreams really, you know, when you look at richard branson getting onboard today, elon musk getting onboard unity 2022, a dream realized. it begins with these kind of childhood dreams or events that imprinted their minds and sent them on this great mission. we re going to continue to show you photos of what is going on, video, at space port america. right now you re seeing a lot of activity with crews getting ready to get on the spacecraft, unity 22 and
the rocket engine has ignited. this is the moment that branson and his team have been waiting for. brian, i have to pause. i have to take this in. this is really an incredible moment here. this is what branson and his team viewers, what you re watching around the world, trust me, you ll see it in a moment. rachel is a few seconds ahead of the stream you re seeing on your television. rachel is telling us on the ground she knows that unity 22 has successfully fired its rocket. rachel, what s next? reporter: brian, i apologize for that delay, but we are 45 seconds into this burn. this rocket motor should be burning for about 60 seconds. that will catapult them to the edge of space. we re really looking for that 60-second burn on the ground. we re about 3 seconds away from it. that s when we know they re headed to the edge of space when branson will indeed be getting his astronaut wings. as you have heard from the crowd
branson and his virgin galactic crew gearing up for tomorrow s groundbreaking launch. fire! reporter: the british billionaire set to lift off just nine days before jeff bezos takes his blue origin rocket to the edge of space. the 70-year-old daredevil will board virgin galactic s unity spaceplane for its fourth crewed test flight earlier than expected. the revved up timeline for branson sparking safety concerns. every single test flight we ve done, the last 22, have had people on board, and no one person is any real different than the other when it comes to safety. reporter: in 2014, virgin galactic lost one of its pilots during one of the company s test flights. the spacecraft broke apart and crashed into the mojave desert, killing a father of two young children. some painful moments in the last 17 years. some wonderful moments. but it s been 17 years of hard work. reporter: this mission, dubbed unity 22, is expected to last about 90 minutes. the spaceship unity attached t
morning mountain highly anticipated launch of unity 22 mission to space. joining us is nbc news correspondent tom costello. tom, i wish i were there, where you are, as you know. this is just one of those things, in your long career, that you re going to look back as a piece of aviation history, space history. been delayed for a little while, but not that big of a deal, really? reporter: really not a big deal. 90 minutes. it s a beautiful day. it s 80 degrees, sunny, no rain, but there were some high winds or higher winds than they would like last night on the ground. that delayed them pushing the aircraft out so they could fuel it. that s why we have a delay. everything is pushed back by 90 minutes. it s still supposed to take off 10:30 eastern time. can i show you spaceport