Virgin Galactic's first-ever commercial spaceflight has launched on a 90-minute tour of the atmosphere.
The crew - made up of members of Italy's Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy - will spend the time conducting "suborbital scientific experiments" aboard the VSS Unity.
The flight is scheduled to launch from Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert, with two Italian Air Force officers and an engineer with the National Research Council of Italy focusing on a series of microgravity experiments during their few minutes of weightlessness.