Virgin Space has successfully tested its first rocket - powered spacecraft , VSS Unity . It’s capable of carrying passengers who are expected to pay around $250,000 for the trip and The SpaceShipTwo launched Unity at an altitude that required the spacecraft to run its engines for up to 30 seconds to take it to two and a half times the speed of sound . It was the first powered test of Unity since the in - flight loss of Enterprise in October 2014 . Shortly after the test , Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson tweeted : " Space is tantalisingly close now . "
Virgin Space has successfully tested its first rocket - powered spacecraft , VSS Unity . The SpaceShipTwo launched Unity at an altitude that required the spacecraft to run its engines for up to 30 seconds to take it to two and a half times the speed of sound . It was the first powered test of Unity since the in - flight loss of Enterprise in October 2014 . Shortly after the test , Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson tweeted : " Space is tantalisingly close now . "