branson will have a press conference. what do you want to know from richard branson today? >> i want to know what that experience was like for him. one of the things that occurs to me is there's so much to take in in such a little amount of time. a few seconds of free fall essentially. you've got the curvature of the earth, the bright, brilliant colors you see from space, the darkness of the sky and the idea that you're tumbling around in zero g probably not feeling great because you've probably got some inner ear disturbances. space adaptation sickness is a real thing. i'd like to know what that experience was and how much he was able to process through it. >> and there we see, miles, on the screen -- not sure if you can see it. the viewers can see the space plane coming down this incredibly long runway, a runway for space travel in this remote new mexico desert. this is the end of one story for richard branson and the beginning of another, and not just for branson, but passengers on board as well. i love your point, miles. it lasts for a few minutes and you want to take i

>> yes. >> is richard branson really going into space? the bezos outfit has pointed out that 96% of humanity does not believe he is going to space. explain what that means. >> i don't know what the rest of humanity is thinking, but i know as an astrophysicist what this is. there is an operational definition of space that is used and invoked internationally. that definition is if you go up 100 kilometers, that counts as space. that's about 62 miles. where you get that number, it's sen sensibly derived. we sit here and we see a blue sky. why does it have any color at all? it's because sunlight, when it hits particles in the air, selectively scatters blue light from the sunlight. that happens at an extreme level at sunset. so much blue is taken from the sun that the sun looks red oram b -- or amber. that's not the color of the sun. if you go higher in the atmosphere where there is not so much of those particles above you, the sky disappears, in a sense. it's no longer blue, it's no color at all. it becomes black even in broad daylight. they

and branson hopes start flying tourists next year. there's talk about this being a sort of pre cursor to an industrial revolution in space, and i don't just mean branson slot. i mean the competition with mosque and bays off . i mean, this talk of an industrial revolution in space having to mine resources out in space. i mean, is that, is that something that you know, a real possibility or, or is that just sy fi fantasy or perhaps to stop here is the better word? well, i stood out in the wall have the desert almost per 2 years ago when a man called bryan binnie was experimenting with a rocket plane that would take off from the desert. brian ended up working for basically richard branson. he ended up flying to space. the earlier prototype version of the ship we saw today. so it's taken decades to get from the dreams that people had of this sort of thing to the reality of today. and the same is going to happen with the exploitation of space resources. there is certainly out there the opportunity for us to start looking for rare elements

branson in mid-flight.ou amazing and also makes my point about it being a bit of a television show. jeff, let's pick it up, please. not sure if we still have audio contact. >> oh, yeah. howie, yeah, i think the point you were making before we heard from richard branson is that someone is paying and funding sort of an adventure to space, that he's putting his money where his mouth is and he's actually experiencing it to give the confidence to other people who are wondering if it's safe and viable. this would be the first time an owner of a privately run rocket company is taking the ride himself. howie: right, to give our viewers an update. the virgin galactic flight is at 22,000 feet and descending. doesn't look like a dramatic descent but obviously it's moving very quickly. you have to give credit to the entrepreneurs, bezos wished branson lots of luck before the launch. they didn't have to do this. there's a strain of thought -- i like everybody else are wondering, private companies doing what nasa used to

what is branson's motivation?ese incredible dreams that they had, really launched or sparked by the space race and seeing apollo 11 land on the moon in 1969. for richard branson i think he was 18 or 19 years old. peter, who you are having on later, the main character so to speak of my book, was 8 years old. they watched this incredible event of man first setting foot on another planet and were captivated and wanted to get to space. and realized at some point that they weren't going to get there through governmental channels and had to create this private path to space. from my perspective whether or not you are a space expert or geek, i say that with respect, this is a story about big dreams and incredible risk taking, innovations, and failing, and moving forward regardless. so it is a story we can all be captivated by and really inspired by. taking away from the billionaires, even though their dreams really, you know, when you look at richard branson getting onboard today, elon musk getting onboard unity 2022, a

richard branson going where no billionaire has gone before. virgin galactic's supersonic space plane, vss community takit -- vss unit. rachel crane reporting on the breathtaking moment when the supersonic space plane separated from the mother ship eve. >> reporter: you can hear the crowd cheering behind me. this is that historic moment that richard branson and his team at virgin galactic have been waiting for for nearly two decades. we have release, brian. we have release. the rocket engine has ignited. this is the moment that branson and his team have been waiting for. i've got to pause. i've got to take this in. this is really an incredible moment here. >> we all took it in. in this hour-long journey, and a few minutes of weightlessness, the journey, the mission to get here was decades in the making. not only did branson make this happen, but he in spectacular fashion brought all of us along with him and making sure we could see and hear from him while it was happening. >> -- one day you'll get to experience it. it's a complete experience of

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richard branson is back from space richard branson is back from space the rocket plane is useful ourssmann has been following this historic development in new mexico, and joins youosphere there for you and spectators, and what comes next. >> everybody here at virgin galactica, this company that has had its shining moment, everybody has to be over the moot picture-perfect, from the moment the mother ship, the twin fuselage, left the runway and started lifting off to the sky, it all went spectacularly. the real first spectacular moment was when the mother ship released unity 22, the spaceship, which rocketed up to about 50 miles above earth, and the now astronauts, four civilians, went ahead and experienced several minutes of weightlessness. then they came back to earth, glideed into the runway, the landing, like the take off, picture-perfect, just the way richard branson must have hoped it would. clearly for branson, this is a personal milestone and a professional one, but it is also meaningful for anyone who has a passion for space, or anyone who believes that the sky is the limit. b

richard branson has his own plane. they fly in here. now ultimately i had a conversation with somebody who is in the virgin galactic hierarchy last night. ultimately they think they have to have hotels, maybe in truth or consequences but that's really remote. so how do you get somebody who is going to pay that kind of money and who is going to come in and we're staying in the nicest hotel is a beautiful courtyard marriott. if you're used to the ritz, what are you going to do? they may think they have to build something like that if this takes off and then they have to chopper people in. again, you're talking about the world's wealthiest people right now. chopper them in from albuquerque. they've got a big two-mile runway here. it's beautiful. and that might be the ultimate plan. they are actually talking about the billionaires combining this vacation with maybe i'll go skiing over the weekend and maybe i'll fly there as well. >> i tell you, such issues to have to deal with. let me ask you, tom, you know, watching this we watched start t

so presumably, richard branson and cool are in it. now. let's see what happens next, but talk us through, you know, when most people think about space flight. they think about, of course, the astronaut circling the earth floating in space and, and for at least a few days. that's not what which bronson is going to be doing. right, no, absolutely not. this is essentially a joy ride. they will go up. they will float for about 5 minutes. they will have a wonderful opportunity to see the earth in all its magnificence and through the windows of this spacecraft. they will then strap themselves back into their seats. the pilots there are 2 pilots on board. their most important job will be to change the shape of the vehicle. it's almost like an hour. a gammy japanese are a gammy paper model. they will change the shape of the spaceship so that when it hits the atmosphere, it slows down and gently re enters back into the arts atmosphere. at that point they will change the shape of the spacecraft again to turn it in to a regular planes. and at that st

it's been focused on richard branson. richard branson has been focused on space for a very long time in his career. what do you make of what's happening today? >> well, this is definitely a huge day for richard branson because he's wanted to go to space ever since he watched the moon landing in 1969. he said that when he saw the footage of neil armstrong walking on the surface of the moon, he knew without a doubt some day he would go to space. so this is a big day for him, but it's also a big day for space tourism in general. branson has long wanted to create a commercial space line. so has jeff bezos. so, you know, people -- private citizens and space tourists have gone to space before, but they've done so in a different way. they've flown alongside professional astronaut and flown on government-operated spacecraft. now the game is extremely different. they have several options to choose from. they have virgin galactic, blue origin, jeff bezos' company and spacex, elon musk's company. >> peter, let me ask you about the c

, sir richard branson.ying for years that his family members and many of his close aides have been trying to talk him out of doing this. did you get a sense that he's nervous at all about this? >> reporter: i asked him. i said, are you nervous? he said no. he said, i've been waiting for this for 17 years. 17 years ago was when he started virgin galactic, and he has been passionate about this since he was a teenager growing up in the uk and he watched the apollo 11 moon landing and said right then looking up at the moon, i want to go to space someday. as you know, this guy is just a serial entrepreneur and serial dare devil. by his own count he has escaped death 75 times already. he's had close calls. balloon accidents, and serious car crashes, and mountain biking accidents. i mean, the list goes on and on and on. so it's in his blood to take risk and he told me, he said, i believe and the family motto is that life is for taking risks. and if you're not taking risks, ural not living life. i'm paraphrasing be

have you spoken with richard branson or jeff bezos? would you like to. >> i would loving to chat with both -- love to chat with both of them. i saw bezos give a talk about his dreams for space flight. i haven't met branson yet. i respect bezos' point of view. he wants to make the transportation system that allows people to generate their own futures in space. and so he wants to make earth very much a protected environment where he moves all the heavy and dirty industry off into space and leaves the park down here for all of us to enjoy an that's a vision i think i can get behind. arthel: finally, i know it's nothing of compared to what you have done but would you like to take a commercial flight to space? >> oh, yeah. i was a pilot in the air force and then flew on space shuttler -- shuttle for times for nasa. i would be up for it. i have to be able to take my wife with me and she's the one i have to convince now. arthel: well, i think you can. i don't know. i think you can. >> cross your fingers. arthel: okay. i'll cross my fingers fo

you have read branson's bio, as of i, many of them.he least. but do you get a sense that this is an unnecessary risk at this point? they have only had three safe flights. >> yes, look. i have been saying, the modern-day howard hughes. they had three set flights. let's remind our viewers, in 2014, this first generation of this aircraft crashed in the mojave desert, one pilot was killed, another was very badly wounded, and kind of a harrowing, unbelievable story, the aircraft, as he put it sort of fell apart around about 50,000 feet. this is a dangerous thing. we should not kid ourselves, we certainly should not kill the audience about this. they will be lighting a rocket and 50,000 feet, that rocket will burn for one minute. it is important that it burns for the right amount of time. as we said, they will flip that aircraft back and bring it back to earth. is it an unnecessary risk? this is richard branson, the man tried to cross the atlantic three separate times in hot air balloons, felt each time. as i said earlier, he writes in his b

. >> billionaire richard branson known for his stunts, now his biggest adventure yet. >> we've been to space! >> but more than just the exploits of the uber rich, potential benefits for all humankind. >> this capability is going to transform the research and technology that we can develop in microgravity. >>> plus, summer of soul. the new hulu documentary. the harlem cultural festival. >> are you ready, black people, are you ready? >> soul superstar sly and the family stone, gladys knight, a teenage stevie wonder. a celebration of black culture that was almost lost. >> it was just sort of disposed of and forgotten about. we get to give people their life back. >> "nightline" will be do you struggle with occasional nerve aches in your hands or feet? try nervivenerve relief from the world's #1 selling nerve care company. nervive contains alpha lipoic acid to relieve occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. try nervivenerve relief. ♪ i've got nothing to eat. nothing. [crying] hold on, i can do something. ♪turning nothing into something♪ ♪i turned nothing into something♪ it's amazin

i swore that branson's company tweeted before the slide. no, sorry, sorry, competitive company, competitive company was tweeting saying, well, you know, it's no actually space because it's not reaching that 100 kilometer mark 30. what. what is that relationship we'd like to think. right? that was a tweet from jeff bases, blue origin center and, and it's, it's interesting there, there are some big egos involved in so much can. and richard branson and jeff bezos are considered billionaire space space entrepreneurs who are in competition. but the interesting thing is that new on mosque actually attended today's light and, and reportedly is buying and tickets on virgin lactic. so there are some interesting alliances and competitions here, but certainly jeff pays us is facing a lot of competition and has have a long road. and so he probably wishing that the spotlight with him today, but that's not to be all right. hey, thank you very much. for your time i should be speaking to you as this one continues allen boil there, contributing editor, a ge

billionaire richard branson blasting off into space, the moment the plane left the earth's atmosphere, the minutes he and his crew floated weightless his message from the edge of space. >> if we can do this, just imagine what you can do. >> the triumph ntd landing and our exclusive sit-down with branson that sent him leaping. as a new age in space travel begins >> will you need another shot. pfizer to meet with health officials to push for a third vaccine dose for americans one country announcing today an extra booster shot for at-risk patients >> the life-threatening heat across the west. record highs in las vegas and palm springs scorching temperatures fueling out of control wildfires u.s. officials on the ground in haiti today, will more americans resources be sent in >> chaos in the air. an unruly passenger duct taped to her seat, other passengers forced to keep their hands in the air. plus the airline ceo who says the mask mandate may go away >> and the victory that put novak djokovic into the history books. what he is on the verge of doing that no player has done in 30 years. >>

richard branson is with our rachel crane right now.rld has a few new astronauts, and i happen to be standing with two of them. sharicia and richard branson. you just fulfilled a lifelong dream. i know you said earlier you couldn't find the words to describe it, but you have been back on earth for a couple hours. tell us, what was the experience like for you? >> i dreamt of going to space since i was a kid. i have always pictured what it would be like. and it was just far more extraordinary than i could ever, ever imagine. from going north of 3,000 miles an hour in 7 or 8 seconds, being pressed back into the seat, the roar of the rocket, to arriving in space and the silence. and, you know, to looking out of the window, to seeing our glorious, glorious colors of the sky. to unbuckling and floating, just literally lifting, going off to the ceiling and floating, looking back down on these big windows, now the spaceship is upside down, facing back down to the earth. seeing these three float around underneath me like giant fish. get out of m

and the same affect it had on richard branson. everybody was watching from planet earth on that day. this is a culmination of his dreams, of him taking his own spaceflight, not to the space station or moon, but an altitude of -- there we go. we have pictures on the inside. assuming the technology works and they can get the live shot -- >> tom, we have been using the term feathering here and university climbs and lands. what does that mean, exactly? what are we watching here? >> reporter: the bottom line here is they -- i may even defer to the expert in terms of mike, because you have a fellow pilot right there and astronaut in terms of how this works, because it's a delicate procedure as they feather the wings back for re-entry. >> mike, what does that mean to feather as they return here and land shortly on a runway in new mexico? >> it's interesting technology they are using here, they are combining the aspects of a capsule re-entry which is fairly safe, and they will form inline with the spacecraft, and then they can deploy them

soon we expect to see branson and his crew heading to the launch site.e'll bring you that when it happens. >>> first, back on earth, the delta variant is now the dominant covid strain in the united states and we're seeing case numbers heading in the wrong direction in areas with low vaccination rates. for those who are vaccinated, there is new confusion about booster shots. pfizer is raising questions about how quickly americans may need another third shot as the fda and cdc say, no, no, not yet. joining me now, the president's chief medical adviser on the covid-19 pandemic, dr. anthony fauci. dr. fauci, thanks for joining us. i want to start with this new reporting from reuters today that israel, the government of israel, is beginning to administer pfizer boosters. third shots to people they consider vulnerable. here in the united states the cdc and fda say we do not need booster shots. do you think boosters could theoretically help vulnerable people? >> well, certainly they theoretically could. what the cdc and fda were saying is that right now, given

is this race for space between branson and bases? is it a healthy one? do you think? you know, it could be perhaps dangerous towards the commercialization of space? i think that generally speaking, competition is good in the space business and having to billionaires funding development of 2 entirely different types of rocket must have benefits. i mean, there are all sorts of arguments about whether they should be spending this money and how they earned this. but there is no question that in the development of cutting edge technologies, it's exactly this sort of competition between billionaires that can actually produce the sort of breakthroughs that you and i, one day one day will benefit from you. thank you so much for talking to us. and of course we'll look forward to talking to you again when the launch actually happens, leo. and right. joining us there from us. s. look at other world news now. and the delta variant of coven 19 is spreading rapidly in a number of countries with a strain fueling of rapid rise in cases in the u. k. british authorities, a warning agai

richard branson soars into space in his own rocket.this historic flight means for average citizens hoping to for average citizens hoping to fly above earth one day. captioning funded by cbs

but branson probably thought that's close enough. anyway. the inhabitants of the spacecraft were able to view the fantastic picture of earth below and the blackness of space above they were able to experience a few moments of weightlessness during their our long flight. and then the pilot's maneuvered the craft back into the atmosphere and glided in for a perfect touch. down landing on the tarmac, a landing strip which is in the desert behind me. afterwards, branson described it as miraculous and the most incredible experience he had ever had. now breadth, his goal is to send tourists into space on his rocket ships. he hopes to start doing that next year and the price tag for a ticket. the space with richard branson's. virgin galactic company is $250000.00 per person. is half time in the year 2020 football championship finals, england playing italy at london's wembley stadium. with $65000.00 spectators allowed in the stands for the 1st time since the pandemic began. again, schooled in the opening minutes of the game made you final to the in

but richard branson beat bays those in this building aerospace race. so is the space tourism industry ready for blast off? i don't think you're see a wave of people signing up. i think it'll, it'll take some time. but certainly those who have already signed up are, are significant. certainly does it maybe hundreds. there's plenty of multimillionaires in the world that would like to go up on an adventure, so long as they see that it's relatively safe. a trip with virgin galactic costs cool. $250000.00. space ex meanwhile, has plans to ferry 3 people to the international space station as early as next year, for $55000000.00 a ticket. so perhaps a giant leap for space enthusiasts, but only if you have the cash. and marco folks is the boss of german space tech company o h b market was branson's flight historical. do you see it as just another step on a much longer journey? good morning. well, i felt it was a historic, was very exciting to watch. and the visuals around the whole piano around it. to me show that it is a step and i think we're going to be the

both are reuseable branson's plane is air launched. a 90-minute trip bos bezos with a relaunchable booster. all in all, the trip to the edge of space and weightlessness, that piece for the systems is 11 to 15 minutes. either way, there is a definition of the start of space. you land back as an astronaut on earth. >> morgan, i was going to ask. how long were they weightless? you answered the question. there was a few minutes where you float? >> reporter: that's right. in the case of the space flight yesterday, they got to 53 miles in altitude and they were able to unbuckle and experience the weightlessness and the curvature of the earth keep in mind, this was a test flight for virgin galactic yesterday and the future cust experience for the customer. they did actually get to experience what future consumers could experience if they buy the tickets. >> we're experiencing it through you. morgan brennan, i know you will be on all day. who can sleep with this event? monday morgan, congrats >> reporter: thanks, brian >>> you're very welcome.

will see yo captioning sponsored by cbs >> barnett: mission accomplished for space pioneer richard branson. the british billionaire and his virgin galactic crew rocket to the edge of space. this test flight is part of a furious race to launch space tourism. >> this here is for richard branson, astronaut. >> it was just magical. >> also tonight wildfires rage as a heatwave blisters the west. in arizona two firefighters killed in a plane crash. plus, rising infections. new concerns about a covid comeback. we'll get a checkup from our dr. david agus. haiti's crisis deepens following the assassination of the country's president. how is the biden administration helping. special appearance, pope francis offers his weekly prayers from a hospital balcony. and later, they're cute little devils, a special species makes a return. >> they're beautiful, what is not to love about tasmanian devils? >> they're beautiful this is the "cbs weekend news" with jericka duncan, reporting from the new york. ork, her >> barnett: good evening, to our viewers in the west jericka duncan is off tonight. i'm errol barn

it's indescribably beautiful >> reporter: in an exclusive branson family interview with nbc news -- >> i've got to show it off >> reporter: -- sir richard could not contain his excitement proud of his wings >> i'm afraid nobody will ever be able to take them away from us once you're an astronaut you're always an astronaut. >> reporter: his kids grateful he's back on terra firma >> it's quite hard when your dad's going to do something so pioneering that no one else has really done. >> reporter: branson the winner in the so-called battle of the space billionaires with blue origin's jeff bezos, after suggesting branson and his passengers would not be true astronauts because they don't go as high as bezos and his passengers will, bezos seemed to concede the win, writing "can't wait to join the club. >> i hope he has an extraordinary experience as we did. >> reporter: branson's hope that the quarter million-dollar price tag for a ride will soon come down, making the trip possible for those on smaller budgets and virgin is launching a sweepstakes with a maze for two tickets to space >> then

i was, i was interested real because branson is a keen environmentalist. he arrived to the flight on his bike, but you'd think that space flight would, would be pretty bad on the old robin footprint front. well yeah, that's a quite, it doesn't require of a lot of fuel to be expanded. it's not necessarily the type of fuel that we use in our, in our vehicles or in jet planes. but nevertheless, it does create a lot of combustion and that is a factor definitely in a global warming. but you know, some of the things that, that elan musket said that kind of kind of lend itself to the idea that maybe space is the place for the human race. i'm not trying to make a poem here. maybe space is the place for the human race to go. if our planet becomes uninhabitable due to our own activities. now you know that one could, one could argue another side to that, but yes, there's definitely, i can hear. i can hear planes in the air now. i'm not sure. i think you must want to fail to see it. it looks like it's coming down. and it has landed. it's down. that's it. that's it. it

our interview tonight with richard branson. and the unopened nintendo game selling for $1.5 million. >>> good evening and it's zbraet to have with us here and we begin tonight with news on two of the vaccines in this country and on this troubling delta variant. we're going to break down where it's spreading. first, though, the new fda warning about the johnson & johnson single shot vaccine, warning of a very rare nerve condition. the cdc reporting about 100 cases under investigation. that's out of about 13 million johnson & johnson shots. tonight, pfizer is meeting with federal health authorities after suggesting millions of americans might soon need a booster shot, a third shot. you'll remember last week the cdc saying pfizer got ahead of itself. tonight, dr. fauci on whether this is, in fact, a possibility. israel moving forward with that booster. tonight, cases are up in at least 10% in 25 states, half the country. and in 17 of those states, hospitaled edadmissions are up as well. in fact, in the last month alone, new cases

richard branson is one of 3 billionaire businessmen, promising to take tourists to overt branson add 5 others have successfully complete there 1st, fully crude test flight virgin like takes full commercial flight. first of those is not until next year, but will cost you a quarter of a $1000000.00 for a think. $600.00 tickets are already reserved. and in just a few days, blew origins that you ship and broke. it will head to space with its owner and amazon found at jeff bezos, his brother, an 82 year old female pilot. while the phone was trained as an astronaut, but denied the chance in the sixty's to go to space because of her gender, she'll soon get her child for that flight which will last 10 minutes. while eat on mosques, space 6 has already taken astronauts to the international space station. it passed as edgar crew made up entirely of private citizens for the 1st time into orbit. later this year, the tesla found that says charges for his private lines will go toward moon and mars missions inspiration for it will take 4 days to return to earth. or miko. vic is a business columnist

jeff bezos wishing richard branson and his team well one day before branson blasts off to space.s has his own launch nine days later. for branson this has been a dream more than three decades in the making. >> how do you feel about going to space, richard? >> i love to go into space. for everybody watching this, you see incredible pictures of space. could be nothing nicer. >> less than 24 hours he'll travel to intelligent of space aboard virgin galactic rocket powered plane. the trip would make branson the first by lone injury to travel to space aboard a vehicle he helped to fund. we have more on this new frontier in the space race. >> reporter: the countdown is on. in just hours entrepreneur richard branson hopes to become the first person to ride a self-funded rocket into su suborbital space. a launch nearly two decades in the making. tell me how do you feel? >> well, iman nag to avoid getting excited since we started building space ships and mother ships and all these things. i finally got the call from our chief engineer saying that every single box has been checked on the sa

mr. branson, although he had an earth patch on his sleeve. he's from the u. k. and eli mosque was born in south africa. well, the point here is that, you know, there are people from other places and they come to either the west to do things or do this things elsewhere. but you look at the crew today, and one of the people have several people from the u. k. one with some india. so you know, anybody can fly in these things. i've done the training at the senate, each life straightforward. the issue is, how much is it going to cost and where do you know who you write the check to? is it a playground for billionaires? you know, you could probably derive that from some the twitter exchanges in the past few days, but just look through history back here in the states when that can the 1800s when the railroads are 1st being formed on the 1900s of the airlines are being formed was one rich guy here on the ranch guy there they trash talk each other. at some point the expensive flights were, you know, becoming popular than somebody found a cheaper way to do it. now everybod

richard branson's trip is new in the history books.e making the ground breaking journey today. and branson and his crew are now back on earth and making a smooth landing in the new mexico desert. from lift off to landing, the trip lasted about an hour but it may usher in a new entry into travel space. a dream long in cartoons. ♪ meet george jetson, his boy elroy ♪ >> so are we closer? joining me again is the retired astronaut kay heyer. we all thought that the day couldn't possibly come but wouldn't it be fun if can do. so are we closer now that we're seeing that civilians will be in sub orbital space and perhaps even beyond after today's test flight? >> we have absolutely closer to making science fiction reality. watching the jetsons as a young child and when i was very young watching the apollo program and astronauts watch on the moon and the way that technology was chancing so quickly during that time, i just assumed that everyone would be flying in space by the time i was an adult. so in my mind it slowed down a little bit so i'm e

and obviously, richard branson has confidence in it.s. you know, not -- not only richard branson but the other people who would be making their first flight. and so, be very interesting to see what they have to say. >> so, leroy, branson is only entering the edge of outer space. how do you think that compares to traveling further into the depths of outer space, the way that you and other -- other astronauts have? >> sure. you know, i've spent almost 230 days in orbit on space shuttles and on the space station. so, i definitely start to get a different perspective the longer you stay up there. but, you know, these guys will get a taste. i guess, it's a little bit like, you know, getting a -- a -- a glimpse or, maybe, just a taste of something at a -- at a nice restaurant. then, you're -- then, you're kind of ushered out. but, you know, one day, they might be going -- some of these people might be going orbital, as well. >> all right. fascinating discussion. we are going to be continuing it, obviously, in through tomorrow when the launch

. >>> and our exclusive with billionaire richard branson on making history in his race to space. >> announcer: this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. >> good evening. i'm kate snow in for lester tonight. it is rare to see hurricane warnings on the west coast of florida in july. but that's exactly what we have tonight. tropical storm elsa dumping heavy rain on the florida keys today and then strengthening over the open water with maximum winds now just below hurricane strength and the threat of life-threatening storm surge the tampa area bracing with forecasters expecting the storm to become a hurricane just before making landfall tomorrow morning, likely somewhere north of tampa we'll have the full forecast ahead, but we begin with catie beck in tampa tonight. >> reporter: tropical storm elsa growing stronger over warm gulf waters with winds nearing 70 miles an hour, the threat of tornadoes and up to eight inches of rain are expected along florida's west coast >> everybody is always concerned. you never know what it's going to do. >> we're going to take on some water. that's all there i

there is the man himself, richard branson, on board the spaceship. >> what an experience.experience for life. and now i'm looking down at a beautiful spaceport. congratulations to everybody for creating such a beautiful, beautiful day. congratulations all our wonderful team at virgin galactic for 17 years of hard, hard work. >> you just heard from richard branson himself. >> all right. >> speaking live from the spaceship to his fellow earthlings as he descends with his passengers and the pilots back to their base in new mexico. cady coleman, let me bring you back in. where are we heading with commercial spacecraft? we saw something incredible. a commercial privately owned spacecraft blasting off into space for a few minutes and then everybody got to be weightless and float around the cabin and look down at planet earth. is this something that's going to be available to regular human beings at some point in the not too distant future? >> it's certainly looking that way to me. this is still a test flight for virgin galactic technically but they're still -- every flight they

branson's mission starts in a bit more than five hours from now. the billionaire will take off in a space plane built by his company, virgin galactic. if he is successful, branson will beat bezos, who plans to soar into space in his blue origin rocket by nine days. cnn's rachel crane talked to the soon to be space traveler about his out-of-this-world event and the risk involved. >> reporter: the countdown is on. and in just hours, entrepreneur richard branson hopes to become the first person to ride a self-funded rocket into suborbital space. >> astronaut 001 richard branson. >> reporter: a launch nearly two decades in the making. tell me, how do you feel? >> well, i've managed to avoid getting excited for 17 years since we started building spaceships and mother ships and motherboards and all these things. and i finally got the call from a chief engineer saying every single box had been checked on the safety aspect, and that i was -- would i like to go to space? and i hit the roof, i was so excited. >> reporter: the virgin galactic plane is set to

but i think branson's view is who is counting, and then the passengers including branson at several minutes where they could view a fantastic picture of earth below with the blackness of space above the engines were stopped for a few minutes so that everyone could experience weightlessness or near weightless this and floating around in the cabin, then the pilots began to reconfigure and re maneuver or landing. they re entered the atmosphere and glided in for a perfect landing on the runway behind me. afterwards, branson held a press conference, part of which you saw there. he said that he is going to start something of a lottery or a sweepstakes using another company that organizes sweet steak. that will allow people who are not fabulously wealthy to perhaps when a trip to space at some point right now, the goal for branson's virgin galactic is to start allowing space tourism to go up and experience what she just did in the next 12 months. sometime in 2022, whether that happens or not, we'll see. but the price tag tickets, the space on richard branson, space plane is currently about $250000

you have to ask sir richard branson about that. but let me ask you, what does this represent moving forward? can we say that yesterday we'll go down in the history books as the beginning of commercialized space, travel space tourism. well, it depends. you know where he stand depends where you sit. technically dennis. tito bought a see almost 20 years ago and like i said, half a dozen or so all the people have as well. but that was one of the things that a russian spacecraft there were governments involved and so forth. this flight, however, richard branson and his company have built the spacecraft themselves from scratch. they funded it themselves. and so now you've got a space point space space line. if you will. you can actually buy a ticket or if course you've got the money. hundreds of people already bought these tickets, so as soon as they get a few other things fixed in terms of the, the, the, the space flight experience. you're going to see this become a regular thing. course at the same time, blue origin which basis is goin

but branson is alone in his venture to commercialize space travel. it hasn't feels we've been working out of the town or just phase off the schedule to fly aboard his company blue origin rocket later this month, this time to stay. meanwhile test last elan mosque says he is planning to head into space in september. his space ex venture has received funding from the us government and has even bigger plans with space x is doing is primarily launching satellites, government, satellites, commercial satellites, and, and other, other space systems to earth or vision. and ultimately, what they want to do is launch people to mars that is the most ambitious of all these 3 ventures. the other 2 are seeking to focus on space tourism, taking passengers to lower the orbit for a few minutes of my crew. get microgravity time brands and beat his rattle. tycoon by being 1st off the ground and back down again. but this new space race is really just beginning just like this for a minute. let's bring in a key, if a coward, he is the editor of the space, the news website,

and after the break billionaire richard branson phys is space. how he's helping the mission will inspire others. >> thrill-seeking billionaire richard branson made it to space aboard rocketship green space tourism a step closer to reality markie. martin has more on the historic launch. >> one release release release and just like that. the space race is off seeing their families off before they were escorted to her spaceflight system. branson's virgin galactic crew emerging proudly from spaceport america. a runway motorcade escorting them to the vss unity which took flight early sunday morning all uk found >> was a child with a looking up to this dog. i mean, i told i said in-flight branson beaming from ear to ear. looking back to earth. >> the flight lasting only about 10 minutes, 3 minutes of weightlessness almost 55 miles high 2300 miles per hour. what can year touchdown and not long after takeoff. the six-member crew celebrating their successful landing. and just one week shy of his 71st birthday, sir richard branson earning his astronaut win

the billionaire space race is on the stop is richard branson, his b s. s. unity will carry a full convoy of travelers beyond atmosphere for the 1st time on sunday. branson has been trying to do this for the last 10 years and he's had numerous delays. technical delays, he's 70 years old. i think he wants to, to see his venture succeed and i think by going up himself, it's a bit of a publicity stunt to some degree. branson slide will last about 19 minutes during which the rocket fine will climb to a peak of 89 kilometers above the new mexico desert. the crew should experience a few minutes of weightlessness before descending. the think that this is now here finally reaching the point of commercialization where anybody who has the money and once has the desire can, can buy a ticket and go to space. that is, that is truly special. it's going to be a game changer. i think for space, but branson isn't alone in his venture to commercialize space travel work. amazon found a just phase off is scheduled to fly aboard his company blue origin rocket later this month

emily: virgin galactic founder richard branson.peechless as he talk about -- as he talked about that trip. shares of virgin galactic tumbling the day after this big event. the company disclosing the potential sale of up to $500 million in sales, suggesting it needs funds as it prepares for its debut. they spoke about how the math works out for virgin if they plan to charge passengers $250,000. >> i think the financial model will be very robust. i think this is the supply constrained market. it does cost a decent amount. but our ships are reusable. the vast majority of what we build is reusable. that will allow us to have good flow-through. >> is it really software company level margins that you are open for? -- you are hoping for? >> i think you will see healthy margins out of this because we will lead with value. i think what you saw today, there is no comparison in the world. i think the economics will come out of that. you are focused on your guests, you're consumer, your future astronauts. as we bring them into being astronauts

this that's not going to be what's happening today with, with richard branson. is it talk us through what's expected if everything goes to plan? of course. what's the experience going to be like? what is he going to see? well, the reality is that they're going to take many of the risks the astronauts take when they go into orbit. if you think of going into orbit is taking to the high seas, and that is they remain in orbit around the earth for days, weeks, or even months. these people will be rather like getting into a dinky and going out into the harbor here in mar, say it's a, it's a much less ambitious, a technical enterprise, but the dangers are absolutely real. right. there is a reason why rob was talking to us from the middle of the desert in new mexico. and that is because the u. s. government wouldn't let them launch this thing near people because it is so danger. what could go wrong? there is a lot unfortunately that can go wrong. we pray obviously, that nothing happens today to spoil the event. but, but this is extraordinarily dangerous. stop. it is not

branson.light, poppy. >> astronaut 001 richard branson. i'll be evaluating the customer space flight experience. as the virgin galactic founder, i am so proud to have this remarkable crew of mission specialists and pilots by my side as we fly to space. >> poppy, let me tell you a little bit about that flight experience that branson and his fellow passengers will experience. they will go, you know, travel more than three times the speed of sound. going over 80 mile -- kilometers above earth. while they will experience a few minutes of weightlessness, which i am incredibly jealous of. to -- they will get those astronaut wings and then they will glide back to earth. now, following the flight, the team will do, obviously, a series of inspections and data reviews. they intend to fly two additional space flights before they open the company up to commercial flights, in 2022. and the company expects to live-stream this upcoming space flight for all of us to enjoy. so, although we're not in the cabin,

today's flight gave branson a win in what's being called "the billionaire's space race."der jeff bezos is set to launch on one of his blue origin missions nine days from now. for more on the space launch, i spoke with nicholas schmidle, a staff writer for "the new yorker" and author of the new book “test gods: virgin galactic and the making of a modern astronaut.” so, nicholas, today's lift off, launch, i mean, is this essentially just a race between billionaires? i mean, why was it so significant? >> this is a real thing. this is not just a contest between the world's richest men for who can, sort of, have the biggest toys. that part is certainly there, no doubt, but this is a vindication. i think what's reay important to remember is that richard branson, he's not someone-- his business empire is not based on things that he has built with his hands. he's a marketing genius, right. and he has built brands. he has built compani. but he specializes in the customer experience. and that's what he was going to do with virgin galactic. he had another company, scaled composites,

joining branson on this passenger test flight, three other virgin employees. now, all four are in their final training sessions for launch. >> i did the spinning cups at disney world, is that good enough to prepare me for this. >> you look very fit, very healthy skpks we would love to have -- healthy, and we would love to have you on board one day. >> reporter: how soon? because i'm up for it. >> if i was you, i would just stow away, i have always dreamt of stowing away on something. nobody's ever tried a spaceship. >> i wouldn't mind going either. you know, tom costello reporting there. the faa has given virgin approval to fly passengers on future commercial flights. the passenger test flight is set for early sunday, about 5:00 a.m. our time. branson hopes the price for space tourists comes down with more ships. >> i'm a thrill seeker, but that's a little much. >> how cool would that be? talk about a first date. >> that would be awesome. that would be cool. >> i might work on that one, kari. >> better than chili's. >> here i'm good. you go ahead and enjoy you

branson tweeted congratulations but space blog reports branson is planning to jump into a space ship 2 rocket plane over the july 4th weekend beating bezos by two weeks. virgin galactic is not commenting or denying the report. two years ago i asked branson about his astronaut plans. you are really training hard to go to space. >> yes. i am working on getting a body that is nearly 70 years old into a fitness state of a 20-year-old. >> reporter: there are other billionaires. billionaire jared isaacman is paying billionaire elon musk for his own private trip. we met up with both in february. when are you going to fly, elon? >> i don't know. i'd like to fly at some point and i will. >> reporter: he may not be the first to fly himself but elon musk has already won the race to get real astronauts to the space station. musk, bezos, and branson's companies have all suffered setbacks including a test pilot who died flying an early version of the virgin galactic space ship in 2014. in the end, bezos versus branson may all come down to billionaire bragging rights. and a spectacular ride for any

emily: virgin galactic founder richard branson.peechless as he talked about that trip, practically. almost at a loss for words at points. shares for virgin galactic tumbling the day after this big event. the company disclosing the potential sale of up to $500 million in shares, suggesting it needs additional funds as it prepares for its commercial debut. also caught up with the virgin galactic ceo to talk about how the math works out for virgin if they plan to charge passengers $250,000 apiece. >> i think the financial model is going to be very robust. i do think this is a supply constrained market. it will be that way for a while. it does cost a decent amount to go to space, but our ships are reusable. the vast majority of what we build is reusable. that will allow us to have good flow-through when we get the economics moving and scaling. >> is it really software company level margins that you are hoping for? >> i think you will see solid margins out of this, and it is because we are going to lead with value. when you are going to