VMS Eve

British billionaire Richard Branson was due on July 11 to climb into his Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane and soar more than 50 miles above the New Mexico desert in the vehicle's first fully crewed test flight to the edge of space.

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space plane has conducted the first of three key test flights that should enable it to enter commercial service.

The Unity vehicle, with pilots Dave Mackay and CJ Sturckow at the controls, powered to a height of 89km (55 miles), and then glided back down to Earth.

One of the most popular businessmen in the world - Richard Branson, will visit Bulgaria to present a business lecture. The event will be held on May, 19 in Hall 1 of NDK, according to bTV.

The tickets for the Branson's lecture are already on sale. The cheapest tickets are on price BGN 180, while the most expensive are BGN 500.

Virgin Galactic's new spaceship has made a successful first glide flight, a key step after a deadly crash of its predecessor two years ago, the spaceflight company said on Dec. 3.

The new SpaceShipTwo, dubbed VSS Unity, was hoisted aloft by carrier airplane WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve from the Mojave Air & Space Port in California, the company said on Twitter.

Authorities who carried out their first full day of investigation into a US spacecraft crash that killed one pilot and seriously injured another Nov. 1 said probing the incident could take a year.