Virgin Galactic moves a step closer to commercial space flights

Flying at Mach Three and reaching more than 88km above the Earth on Saturday, British billionaire Richard Branson's private spaceship company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc completed its first manned space flight from its new homeport in New Mexico, US.

This is a milestone in Branson's near two-decades effort to create a commercial "spaceline" to take paying customers into outer space.

Touted as the first...