‘Wings like cracked eggshells’: Richard Branson faces turbulence over safety of passenger space flights

Investors are pursuing legal action against Virgin Galactic, claiming the company’s two spacecraft are not suitable for regular space travel

In a desert basin in New Mexico, Richard Branson hopes history will be made later this year with the launch of Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flights to the edge of space, with tickets costing about $450,000 (£370,000) each.

It is an ambitious schedule to launch the “world’s first commercial spaceliner” at Spaceport America, even though it is already more than a decade late.