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'Welcome to the dawn of a new space age,' Richard Branson says after Virgin Galactic flight

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'It was magical,' Branson said of his trip to space.

SPACEPORT AMERICA, N.M.  — Virgin Galactic's newly minted astronauts are beyond thrilled following their journey to space on the company's first fully crewed spaceflight.  

Sunday (July 11), Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson joined crewmates Sirisha Bandla and Colin Bennett in earning their astronaut wings following the successful launch and landing of the company's Unity 22 suborbital mission. Beth Moses, who also flew aboard the craft, had already achieved astronaut status on a previous flight. The whole crew shared their excitement after returning to Earth, popping Champagne bottles, with Branson even lifting Bandla up onto his shoulders.

"It was just magical," Branson said during the ceremony following the flight, which was Virgin Galactic's fourth rocket-powered spaceflight. "I feel I'm still in space," he added later during a post-launch news conference.

"Welcome to the dawn of a new space age," he added. 

Related: Virgin Galactic launches Richard Branson to space in 1st fully crewed flight
More: What to know about Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unity 22 launch

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson (right) and the crew of Unity 22 celebrate their successful suborbital launch over Spaceport America, New Mexico after landing on July 11, 2021. Branson's crewmates are: (from left) Colin Bennett, Beth Moses and Sirisha Bandla, all Virgin Galactic employees. (Image credit: Virgin Galactic)

"We've been to space, everybody! " Branson cheered during a post-flight press conference. "So thrilling when a lifetime's dream comes true."

"I think like most kids, I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid and honestly, nothing could prepare you for the view of Earth from space ... We have this incredible Earth," Branson said of his flight. "I'm just taking it all in. It's just unreal."

"I was once a kid with a dream looking up to the stars, and now I"m an adult in a spaceship looking back to our beautiful Earth," Branson said during the news conference. "If we can do this, just imagine what you can do," he added in a comment directed to a group of children at the event. 

Branson tweeted out an image of himself taken during the mission with this sentiment later on in the day. 

Related: How Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo works (infographic)

His crewmates were equally overjoyed with their experience. "I couldn't be happier," Bandla said during the news conference. She also shared how happy her parents were for her to accomplish this goal. 

"They've heard me say I want to go to space since I was little," Bandla said. "My dad hugged me so hard when I got here my sunglasses shattered ... I couldn't thank them more for their support." 

In addition to being exciting for the crew, the mission also went extremely well technically, according to Mike Moses, Virgin Galactic's president of space missions and safety.

"Everything looked perfect in real time. We've looked at the data; we’ve done our quick engineering walkaround," Moses said during the news conference. "Normally, we take it in the hangar to do that. But the quick walkaround on the ramp [was] perfect. The ship looks pristine — no issues whatsoever."

As part of this test flight, the crew was tasked with evaluating multiple facets of the mission experience, including comfort, research, customer service and more. 

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson (foreground) and his crew float in weightlessness aboard the VSS Unity spacecraft during their suborbital Unity 22 spaceflight on July 11, 2021. (Image credit: Virgin Galactic)

"I was so honored to test the customer experience," Branson said. "Initially, I thought testing the customer experience was a little bit of an excuse to get me on [the mission]," he said, but he added that he came to see how important it actually was. "It's the little details that matter." 

Virgin Galactic's flight came less than two weeks before Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle is set to make a crewed suborbital test flight with its founder, Jeff Bezos, on board. This has sparked questions of a "race" between the two billionaire founders to get to space before the other. However, Branson previously dispelled those rumors and continued to do so after this flight. 

"It really wasn't a race," he said. "We're just delighted that everything went fantastically well. We wish Jeff the absolute best, and the people going up with him during his flight."

In the spirit of support among commercial spaceflight companies, Branson added that SpaceX founder Elon Musk showed up to show his support.

"It was great this morning to find Elon in my kitchen at 3 o'clock to come to wish us the best. I'd already been to bed and he still hadn't gone to bed," he said. "So nice of him to come all this way to wish us well." Branson added that Bezos also sent a "goodwill message." 

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Chelsea Gohd
Space.com

Chelsea Gohd joined Space.com as an intern in the summer of 2018 and returned as a Staff Writer in 2019. After receiving a B.S. in Public Health, she worked as a science communicator at the American Museum of Natural History. Chelsea has written for publications including Scientific American, Discover Magazine Blog, Astronomy Magazine, Live Science, All That is Interesting, AMNH Microbe Mondays blog, The Daily Targum and Roaring Earth. When not writing, reading or following the latest space and science discoveries, Chelsea is writing music, singing, playing guitar and performing with her band Foxanne (@foxannemusic). You can follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd.