Richard Branson, on his Virgin Galactic rocket plane, becomes first billionaire to get to space

Richard Branson won the “billionaire space race” on Sunday — launching himself and five others more than 50 miles above the earth to the point of weightlessness in his own Virgin Galactic rocket.

“It was the complete experience of a lifetime,” the beaming British entrepreneur, who will turn 71 in a week, said after shaking the hand of another member of the crew. “Now looking down at the spaceport, congratulations to everybody for creating such a beautiful plane and all the hard work for getting us this far.” Branson set off with five employees a little after 8:30 a.m. local time from Spaceport America in New Mexico, about 180 miles south of Albuquerque.