Richard Branson also owns Virgin Galactic (Image: GETTY) Last year, its LauncherOne reached the edge of space for the first time in the company's history. However, the mission was abandoned when the plane reached near orbit due to a propellant line breaking shortly after the first-stage burn began. Virgin's space fairing arms have been busy during the coronavirus pandemic, with its other space company, Virgin Galactic, having recently successfully tested its VSS Unity. The company stated it considered this step a major milestone in its bid for commercial flights, which could begin as early as this year. SpaceX is a competitor of Virgin's space fairing arms (Image: EXPRESS)