US — After 14 years of research, Spaceflight company Virgin Galactic, has flown the first successful spaceflight in history.

This breakthrough takes us a step closer to a world where space tourism is a reality.

According to a press release published by Virgin Galactic, the VSS Unity took off from the Mojave Desert in California. It soared at a speed of 3,500 kilometers per hour — almost 3 times the speed of sound— and reached a height of over 80 kilometers.

The SpaceShipTwo passenger rocket ship was carried by a larger aircraft called WhiteKnightTwo into high altitude. From there, it detached and flew into suborbital space.

VSS Unity overlooked our blue planet from suborbital space for about a minute before beginning its descent.

The rocket was flown by former NASA and U.S. Air Force test pilot Mark Stucky, and Fredrick Sturckow, former NASA astronaut who flew four Space Shuttle missions. Quite the resume for these two.

They will be awarded wings from NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration following their historic flight. Well deserved.

British mogul and owner of Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson, shed tears of joy as the spacecraft soared to space, saying 'This is a momentous day and I could not be more proud of our teams who together have opened a new chapter of space exploration.'

Virgin Galactic is now a step ahead of competing space travel and research companies Space X and Blue Origin.

Hey, Musk and Bezos, the ball is in your court now.