Page 2 - Will Rocket News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Here. one reason they take off in the early morning as peter is a better expert than i am. you want to avoid taking off in the extreme afternoon heat 100 degree temperatures here in new mexico. >> peter, tell us, again, we are talking about 45 or 50,000 feet above earth when the ship itself "vss unity" will detach. this then propels itself -- it will then as soon as the mothership falls away, as you said, the rocket will ignite shortly thereafter? immediately thereafter? >> yeah. a time to get the run away and slowly spiral upwards to those 45 to 50,000 feet has been typically about 40 or 45 m...

Branson is no stranger to cameras. he's always loved cameras and his stunts over the years to kick off his brands, whether it's virgin cola, that didn't go so well, or the virgin atlantic brand or the record stores or whatever, he's known how to grab the spotlight and he loves the spotlight. there's no doubt about it so today he's in the spotlight and this company, which he built from the ground up, there was no virgin galactic four. he started at a stand alone potion 17 years ago and now they're on their way right now to 55 or 56 miles up in the low earth experience. all is going as planned a...

Branson is making the trip this week. a week and a half ahead of the world's richest man jeff bezos, who plans to do the same on his own blue origin ship. nbc tom costello is there when the journey began a short time ago. he's at space port america in new mexico. an extraordinary day. what are we seeing now? >> reporter: at very moment we're at the point where we expect that "unity" will detach and drop from the mothership. the mothership eve. we expect at any moment now, roughly 36,000 to 45,000 feet. we're getting a live feed from virgin galactic. their own broadcast production. so we're wat...

They were weightless for awhile. you're floating there and your system is floating, as well. your sense of motion is a little bit distorted. then you come down and the g-forces build up again. that's what happened to them. i think all of that is overriden by pure joy and exsill ration of what they went through. they had jobs to do. they needed to do that. i think the excitement and the happiness they're experiencing now is the overriding feeling. >> and tom costello, it looks like a clean, safe touchdown and landing on the runway. >> reporter: could not be more perfect on this beautiful day in...

Rocket up, really literally to 50 miles above space. tell me a little bit about what is probably happening now >>well, i think, you know, the release is probably already happened and there's a little bit of time that floats and then that engine gets ignited with that dual fuel and then they're going to fill the g's. when i've launched or the space shuttle latches, i felt 3g going through my chest. it was hard to breathe at times or move your head around. they'll get 3 plus gs as their going up. i think it's going to be hard to lift their arms up. i think they're in a seated so the gs are comin...