Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic rocket plane has carried customers into space, in its first commercial flight.

The 90-minute mission was purchased for the Italian Air Force and the Italian National Research Council.

The unity vehicle climbed high over the New Mexico desert to the edge of space, before gliding back down to earth.

The mission took off from Spaceport America at around 0830 local time (1430 GMT) and was livestreamed around the world.