Virgin Galactic moves closer to space tourism

For the first time in more than two years, Virgin Galactic, the space tourism firm backed by billionaire Richard Branson, conducted a successful spaceflight.

Saturday's flight was only the third successful trip for the VSS Unity.

The company marked the moment with a tweet: "Welcome to space."

Virgin Galactic is in a space race for the futuristic space travel industry backed by other billionaires, including Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX.

But Virgin Galactic has had its share of setbacks including many delays and a fatal 2014 crash.

It is, however, pushing forward.

It already has 600 customers signed up to fly to the edge of space for $250,000 a ticket.

The 90-minute trip will take passengers some 60 miles above the Earth.

Saturday's successful test flight marks a milestone that brings Branson one-step closer to his two-decade effort to fly paying customers into outer space.