Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic gets FAA nod to fly passengers to space

Sir Richard Branson (FILE PHOTO: REUTERS/Kelsey Brunner)

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. has received approval from aviation regulators to fly customers into space, the company announced on June 25.

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) nod to billionaire Sir Richard Branson's spaceship company Virgin Galactic has made it the first to get permission to fly customers.

The FAA upgraded Virgin Galactic's existing license to allow customer flights a month after the company completed the first manned test flight of its SpaceShipTwo craft successfully on May 22.

Speaking about the development, Virgin Galactic Chief Executive Officer Michael Colglazier said: “Today’s approval by the FAA...give us confidence as we proceed toward our first fully crewed test flight this summer.”

The spaceline tweeted:

Full Commercial Launch license Our recent #Unity21 spaceflight performed well against all flight objectives and marks the first time the FAA has licensed a spaceline to fly customers. Next up in our test program – a fully crewed spaceflight this Summer https://t.co/y0P69gofbKpic.twitter.com/fAUWxp8YNy

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) June 25, 2021

FAA’s nod for Virgin Galactic’s commercial manned space flight comes at a critical time for Branson who faces competition from SpaceX boss Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. Bezos’ first trip to space to space is slated to take place in July 2021, which means Branson may beat Bezos in the race for space.