Virgin Galactic launches 4 space tourists to the edge of space and back

Virgin Galactic's winged rocketplane carried a two-man crew and four passengers to the edge of space and back Friday, chalking up the company's 11th sub-orbital spaceflight and its sixth commercial mission.

With veteran pilots C.J. Sturckow and Nicola Pecile at the controls, the Unity spacecraft was carried aloft from New Mexico's Spaceport America by Virgin Galactic's twin-fuselage ferry ship Eve, taking off at 12 p.m. EST.

After climbing to an altitude of 44,493 feet, the carrier jet released the spaceplane and, a moment later, the pilots ignited Unity's hybrid rocket motor to kick off a supersonic near-vertical climb out of the lower atmosphere.