Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson returns after reaching space
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and MARCIA DUNN, Associated Press Troy Warren for CNT TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. — Swashbuckling entrepreneur Richard Branson hurtled into space aboard his own winged rocket ship Sunday in his boldest adventure yet, beating out fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos. The nearly 71-year-old Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space tourism company reached an altitude of about 53 miles over the New Mexico desert — enough to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth — and then safely glided back home to a runway landing. “Seventeen years of hard…