10:31 a.m. ET, July 11, 2021
The crew of SpaceShipTwo is strapped in
The four crew members of SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity, including the billionaire backer of Virgin Galactic Richard Branson, is strapped in and about to take off.
The spacecraft, attached in between the twin fuselages of mothership WhiteKnightTwo, will take off from a traditional runway at Spaceport America in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
Once the mothership, with its four jet engines, reaches about 50,000 feet altitude, it will drop the spacecraft. VSS Unity will then light its own rocket engine, and shoot up to an altitude over 50 miles above the desert floor.