passengers up to mock 3, three times the speed of sound. we could even hear the sonic booms here. we ll have to wait and see. they ll have a few minutes climbing up to space where they will experience a few minutes of weightlessness. they ll be traveling about 50 miles above earth. that is the u.s. boundary for space, so it will just be touching the edge of space before touching back down to earth making a glide touchdown, and that s when we expect the crowds to go wild here at spaceport america, so richard branson making this historic flight that for him is two decades in the making. you know, he bought the technology to spaceship 1 that made the exprise in 2001. after seeing that, richard branson, who has always wanted to go to space, he says, since he saw the apollo landings on
tourism. i want to play something that neil degrasse tyson said speaking to our jim acosta here. let s play that. launching from new mexico, space port. okay? that word feels a little weird but is it any weirder than the first people who heard the word airport? okay. just think about that. space port. airport. so, it could be as routine as what time does the train leave? or what time does the plane leave? what time does your rocket leave, in the future? so, i mean, he he was talking about how this is helping to launch a whole, new industry. i know, from what you just said, you are a huge supporter of commercial-space travel. what are the advantages that that space tourism and commercial-space travel might bring? there it s opening doors to innovation and technology and to all sorts of different opportunities. space manufacturing, resource usage. things that can really make life
day here at space port america. this is a big deal. it s the first time in the history of the world that somebody has built a spacecraft and then flown it into space. it all started a little over two hours ago when sir richard branson and two pilots and three other mission specialists took off on spaceship 2 unit, attached to the belly of the mother ship eve, named after richard branson s own mom. they flew for about 50 minutes to proper altitude, at which point the mother ship released spaceship 2. it freefell for a about two seconds until the pilots took control. this one is piloted by actual pilots. those pilots threw on the rocket engines. the astronauts experienced that feeling of gs as they
that is really the cost of what it takes to tend people and pay loads into space really begins to come down. that was truly a transformative moment in the commercial space flight industry. elon musk was with richards ban son this morning before he ever got to space port america to cheer his fellow billionaire space baron on. jeff bezos treating congratulations just moments ago. despite their rivalry, all three have done so much over the last three years to make space flight more more accessible, but also
there have been setbacks. there have been financial issues, there have been tragedies. you know, all of these things are inherent to space flight. you ve heard the phrase the mantra space is hard, because it really, really is. the fact that richard branson and the entire virgin galactic team is here today, and he truly is on the verge of having that transformative moment and then be able to bring it back and give other humans this kind of experience, it s really a special day. and a special day for the state of new mexico, too, because if you look at where we are, this is called spaceport america. it is a commercial space port, intended to be a hub for sub orbital space tourism. this has been operational for about ten years, all waiting for the first paying customers to take flight, which we now believe will be in early 2022 sometime if everything goes okay. but i think the number one thing my parents and every astronaut