Virgin Galactic reports successful first commercial spaceflight with 3 Italian specialists

A crew of three specialists from Italy boarded a rocket plane Thursday bound for the edges of space in the first commercial flight for billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism company.

The two Italian Air Force officers and an aerospace engineer from the National Research Council of Italy successfully embarked on 90-minute flight to conduct a series of suborbital scientific experiments, the company said in a media release. The crew was joined by a Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor and the spaceplane's pilots for a flight dubbed Galactic 101.

The mission represents the dawn of commercial space travel for private citizens with deep pockets who can afford the hefty $450,000 price to purchase a ticket aboard one of Branson's rockets. Now that the scientific excursion was completed above the New Mexico desert, commercial space flights for ticket holders will begin in August and continue monthly, the company has said.

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How to re-watch the launch

Virgin Galactic offered a livestream of the spaceflight on its website, virgingalactic.com.

The livestream remains available for those interested in viewing the launch.

Who was on board?

The crew consisted of two members of the Italian Air Force: Col. Walter Villadei, who wore a smart suit to measure his biometric data and physiological responses; and Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi, a physician who conducted tests to measure cognitive performance and how liquids and solids mix in microgravity.

Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer with the National Research Council of Italy, also was aboard to conduct tests that involved wearing sensors to examine his heart rate, brain function and other metrics.

Colin Bennet, a Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor who carried out the training and preparation for the mission, also flew with the crew.

The crew took off aboard the VSS Unity, which is piloted by Mike Masucci and Nicola Pecile, according to Virgin Galactic.

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Launch is culmination of years-long billionaire space race

The launch occurred amid a years-long billionaire space race that has seen Branson competing with the likes of Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to take civilians to space.

Branson himself was aboard a 2021 test flight, the completion of which led the the Federal Aviation Administration to ground Virgin Galactic for 11 weeks and conduct an investigation amid concerns that the rocket deviated off-course.

Two years later, Virgin Galactic completed its final test flight on May 25, landing at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico after a short flight to space that included a few minutes of weightlessness.

"We're honored to have been selected by the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council to support their first space research mission," Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement. "Virgin Galactic's research missions will usher in a new era of repeatable and reliable access to space for government and research institutions for years to come."

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @EricLagatta.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Space tourism: Virgin Galactic launches first commercial spaceflight