The countdown finally ends as Richard Branson suits up fly to the edge of space with Virgin Galactic rocket plane Unity 22 today, marking the start of a new era of space tourism.
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Branson, who turns 71 this month, beats Jeff Bezos by a week to be the first billionaire in space on a flight that has been 17 years in the making. The billionaire tweeted; "From dream to reality, this, The next chapter begins." Virgin's Unity 22 mission is the company's fourth crewed mission beyond Earth's atmosphere but the first to carry a non-astronaut.
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The space flight will last about 90 minutes and end where it began - on a runway at Spaceport America near the aptly named town of Truth or Consequences in New Mexico.
With this fight takes off the hopes of many space enthusiasts who are standing in line next. Virgin Galactic, a $11 billion publicly-traded company has 700 paying customers, who have waited patiently in line, ready to pay over $200,000 each for the ride.