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Virgin Galactic finally takes its first paying customers to space

Italian Air Force officers unfurled their nation's flag and peered out windows at the Earth's curvature while enjoying a few minutes of weightlessness at 52 miles (85 kilometers) above sea level. "Welcome to space, astronauts," Virgin Galactic's Sirisha Bandla said in a livestream.

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The mission dubbed Galactic 01 began when a giant, twin-fuselage "mothership" aircraft took off from a runway at Spaceport America, New Mexico, around 8:30 am local time (1430 GMT).