Alex McColgan

To get six passengers and two pilots up into space, to allow them to see incredible views of the Earth, and to experience a feeling of weightlessness.

To do this, they used an interesting method.

Instead of just creating a rocket, they actually attach their Spaceship 2 to a specialised aircraft called White Knight 2, which carried the Spaceship 2 up to an altitude of 15,000 metres.

Then, the spacecraft is released and activates its rocket booster which takes it to supersonic speeds in just 8 seconds.

The Spaceship 2 then begins climbing, arcing higher and higher until it was pointed straight up.

It reaches over 80km, the NASA definition of the boundary of space.

All in all, this trip up takes roughly an hour.

At the height of Spaceship Two's climb, it cuts its thrusters and lets gravity begin to slow its acceleration.

This drop in acceleration results in the passengers on board feeling weightless, sort of like when you throw a ball straight up in the air, there is a brief moment when the ball is neither rising nor falling.

This moment of perfect balance between upward motion and gravitational pull lasts for roughly 5 minutes, after which the spaceship 2 begins to fall to the Earth.

It glides its way back down much slower than a capsule re-entering the atmosphere by using a feathered re-entry system before gliding its way back to its launch pad.

This part of the trip would also take about an hour, making for a 2 hour round trip total.

With the success of Richard Branson getting into space, Virgin Galactic will be looking to start flying passengers into space within this year.

But why does this matter?

Ticket prices for a flight on Spaceship Two, or possibly Spaceship Three by then, will cost $250,000, far outside the price range of most people.

Shouldn't that money instead be invested in issues closer to home, rather than providing the rich with a fun day out?

Well, as our next billionaire has pointed out, space tourism might just be the way that space travel becomes accessible to everyone.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, created his own space company, Blue Origin, with this aim in mind.

Bezos has always had an interest in space, mentioning in an interview at the age of 18 his desire to build space hotels, amusement parks and colonies for 2-3 million people who would be in orbit.

However, this was not simply as a way to make money.