Virgin Galactic via Reuters Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses embraces Richard Branson and other crew as he arrives to board the company’s passenger rocket plane VSS Unity at Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, July 11, 2021. Two pilots flew the company’s VSS Unity space plane 89km above Earth then landed safely. Virgin Galactic is poised to fly customers next year. Branson reached space before Jeff Bezos. Virgin Galactic has launched, flown, and landed its first full crew, positioning the company to start commercial tourist flights to the edge of space in 2022. Billionaire Richard Branson, who founded Virgin Galactic in 2004, was aboard the company’s SpaceShipTwo space plane on Sunday morning. He served as a “mission specialist,” testing the passenger experience for future customers. Three other Virgin Galactic employees did the same: Beth Moses, the company’s chief astronaut instructor; Colin Bennett, its lead operations engineer; and Sirisha Bandla, the vice president of government affairs and research.