FAA clears Virgin Galactic to fly passengers to space

Virgin Galactic announced Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration cleared the company to fly passengers to space, a major step toward the launch of commercial operations.

The regulatory move could set the stage for Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson to try to beat fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Blue Origin, to space. “Today’s approval by the FAA of our full commercial launch license, in conjunction with the success of our May 22 test flight, give us confidence as we proceed toward our first fully crewed test flight this summer,” Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said in a statement.