Virgin Galactic space launch – live updates: First space flight for tourists lifts off – with British man, 80, and mother-daughter duo on board

Director of Launch at the UK Space Agency Matt Archer has been speaking with Sky News to outline what kind of experience today’s passengers should expect.

“They’ll go up to about 50,000ft on the carrier aircraft, and then once they reach that height, the VSS Unity will take them up to the edge of space,” he said.

“On the one side of the cockpit they’ll get to see the blackness of space without any atmospheric interference… and [on the other side] amazing views of earth,” he added.