Virgin Galactic to fly customers to edge of space at up to $450,000 per ticket

First flight marks a key moment for space tourism venture founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, following years of setbacks

A twin-fuselage jet stood ready on Thursday to carry a Virgin Galactic rocket plane with a three-man crew from Italy into the New Mexico sky for a high-altitude launch of the company’s first flight of paying customers to the edge of space.

The two Italian air force colonels and an aerospace engineer from the National Research Council of Italy were due to join their Virgin Galactic instructor and the spaceplane’s two pilots on a suborbital ride expected to take the six men about 50 miles (80 km) above the desert floor.