NEW MEXICO: Swashbuckling billionaire Richard Branson hurtled into space aboard his own winged rocket ship Sunday (Monday in Manila), bringing astro-tourism a step closer to reality and beating out his exceedingly richer rival Jeff Bezos.

The nearly 71-year-old Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space-tourism company reached an altitude of 86 kilometers over the New Mexico desert - enough to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and witness the curvature of the Earth - and then glided back home to a runway landing.