LIVE: Virgin Galactic launches research flight to edge of space

A team of specialists with the Italian Air Force and the National Research Centre of Italy are rocketing toward the edge of space to conduct a series of microgravity experiments. This is Virgin Galactic's first fully-crewed commercial flight on the Galactic 01, launching from Spaceport America, New Mexico. Next month, the company plans to start commercial flights for the first of hundreds of ticket holders, many who have been waiting years for their chance at weightlessness and to see the curvature of the Earth. Footage credit: Virgin Galactic.