Space tourism: Virgin space plane fly above new base today and plan begin space tourism flights for 2021

Richard Branson space tourism company, Virgin Galactic carry out di historic test flight of dia rocket-powered tourist plane today.

Dis flight [SpaceShipTwo Unity] wey takeoff today, carry just two pilots on board - former Nasa astronaut CJ Sturckow and Galactic chief test pilot Dave Mackay.

Di reusable Unity vehicle take off from di commercial spaceport in New Mexico, US.

If everything waka as dem plan am, dis go be di company third crewed test flight and di first for more dan a year before dia commercial service to dey carry pipo to space go begin.

Virgin Galactic wan begin space tourism flights for 2021 and already more than 600 customers - including Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio - don book to take join di plane go space.

How di Tourism Flight go be

Virgin Galactic recently tier rubber di design of di tourist cabin.

Passengers go sit in seats wey dey move to manage G-forces for di different phases of flight - as dem dey go up to space and dey come back to Earth.

Dem go get personal seat-back screens wey go dey display live flight data, and di 12 large windows - more than any oda spacecraft in history, according to di company - dem design am to make sure say no passenger struggle for view wen dem unbuckle as di plane go up and to float free inside di cabin.

Even self, big mirror go dey for di aft end so dat dem go fit see demsef weightless. 

Na long road for di company engineers to get di technology to wia dem want am. Covid-19 crisis bin slow down di progress as only few numbers of staff dey able to work both in New Mexico and for Galactic manufacturing base inside California.

Will Whitehorn, president of di UK Space Industry Group, describe di flight as huge milestone.

"Dis go be very safe and low-cost system," e tell BBC News. "Developing dis no dey easy."

"Wen di mata concern space, you no dey run race wit anyone. You dey race to dey safe," oga Whitehorn add.