LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Sir Richard Branson is one of a handful of billionaires in the world, and he plans on joining an even more exclusive club Sunday morning.Branson, the 70-year-old founder of Virgin Group, will become one of roughly 600 people who’ve left the Earth’s atmosphere when he flies to the edge of space onboard a Virgin Galactic aircraft."I’ve wanted to go to space ever since I was a young boy and watched the moon landings from our black and white television set.
When commercial spaceflights did not look likely for my generation, I registered the name Virgin Galactic with the hope of creating a company that could make it happen," Branson wrote in a blog post on July 6.(L — R) Dave Mackay, chief pilot; Colin Bennett, lead operations.