Video: ‘I was once a child with a dream’

New Delhi: Richard Branson and five crewmates from Virgin Galactic made their journey into space on the company’s own rocket ship ‘Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity’ on Sunday. The 71-year-old and his team reached an altitude of about 53 miles (88 kilometres) and witnessed the curvature of the Earth before safely gliding to a runway landing.

Calling it a “magical” experience, Branson recorded a special message for children from space and shared it on social media, encouraging them to never stop dreaming.

“I was once a child with a dream looking up to the stars. Now I’m an adult in a spaceship looking down to our beautiful Earth. To the next generation of dreamers: if we can do this, just imagine what you can do,” he wrote while sharing a clip of himself and his team floating in the ship.

With this brief up-and-down flight, which took around 15 minutes, Branson became the first person to fly in his own spaceship, beating Jeff Bezos, who is expected to take his trip to space in the next nine days.

Since being shared online, the clip has garnered over 1.3 million views, with many loving the message sent from space. However, some also were quick to criticise Branson for wasting resources for the trip.