Virgin Galactic‘s rocket-powered craft designed to carry tourists to the edge of space successfully a completed a flight above 50 miles Thursday before landing safely in the Mojave Desert.
By flying over 50 miles high, the two pilots aboard SpaceShipTwo became the company’s first astronauts.
The mission also marked the first manned flight into space from U.S. soil since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, space is Virgin territory!” said Virgin Group founder Richard Branson after the successful flight.
The craft is designed to carry two pilots and six passengers and reach an altitude of 68 miles, with the passengers experiencing four minutes of weightlessness.
Over 600 people have paid as much as $250,000 each to reserve a trip on Virgin Galactic’s reusable space-launch system, which consists of a jet-powered carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo and the smaller rocket-powered spacecraft.