Billionaire Richard Branson congratulates the crew on board Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane VSS Unity after their ascent to the edge of space. (Photo: Reuters)

Branson, joined by two pilots and three other passengers, departed from a base in New Mexico on Saturday on a flight to the edge of space, a journey expected to pave the way for the development of space tourism.

The spaceplane was carried by a twin-fuselage carrier jet dubbed VMS Eve to an altitude of 15km, where VSS Unity was released and soared by rocket power in an almost vertical climb to the outer fringe of Earth’s atmosphere.

At the apex of its flight some 88km above the New Mexico desert, the crew experienced a few minutes of weightlessness before making a gliding descent back to Earth. The trip lasted in total about two hours.