Branson begins selling space flight tickets for $450,000

Spaceship company Virgin Galactic (SPCE.N) said it will open ticket sales on Thursday for space flights starting at $450,000 a seat, weeks after billionaire founder Richard Branson’s high-profile trip to the edge of space.

The first 600 people to buy tickets to fly with Virgin paid about $250,000 but after its recent spaceflight, the price went up.

Branson soared more than 50 miles above the New Mexico desert aboard a Virgin Galactic rocket plane on July 11 and safely returned in the vehicle’s first fully crewed test flight to space, a symbolic milestone for a venture he started 17 years ago.

“We’re here to make space more accessible to all,” an exuberant Branson, 70, said shortly after embracing his grandchildren following the flight. “Welcome to the dawn of a new space age.”

Shares of the company rose 5 per cent in extended trading on Thursday.

In June, Virgin Galactic received approval from the US aviation safety regulator to fly people to space.