‘An Indescribable Feeling’: Virgin Galactic Makes Historic Trip To Edge Of Space

Observers watch Virgin Galactic’s SpaceshipTwo take off for a suborbital test flight of the VSS Unity in Mojave, Calif. The company marked a major milestone Thursday as Unity made it to a peak height of more than 51 miles, meeting the Federal Aviation Administration’s definition of spaceflight

Gene Blevins / AFP/Getty Images

Virgin Galactic says it has reached a rather lofty milestone.

During a test flight Thursday morning in Mojave, Calif., a pair of pilots flying the company’s SpaceShipTwo spacecraft hit an altitude of 51.4 miles. That height clears the 50-mile threshold that is sometimes considered the boundary of space.

“Today, as I stood among a truly remarkable group of people with our eyes on the stars, we saw our biggest dream and our toughest challenge to date fulfilled,” Virgin founder Richard Branson said in a statement released Thursday. “It was an indescribable feeling: joy, relief, exhilaration and anticipation for what is yet to come.”