Virgin Galactic has reached suborbital space for the first time

Fourteen years after the company’s founding, it’s finally made it to space—just.

The news: According to the company’s Twitter, SpaceShipTwo reached an altitude of 82.68 kilometers (51.4 miles), just high enough to pass the definition the US military and NASAhave set for the edge of space (and high enough for both pilots to get FAA commercial astronaut wings). But it didn’t reach the Karman Line, the common line used to represent the border between Earth’s atmosphere and space, 100 kilometers above Earth’s surface. NASA also flew payloads on the flight, making it the first revenue-generating flight for the company.

A personal record: This was the fourth powered test flight of the company’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane (called VSS Unity) and its first since July. It reached this altitude—much greater than its previous record of 52 kilometers (32 miles)—by burning the rocket motor for 60 seconds, longer than it ever has in flight before.