Watch Richard Branson’s launch into space live Business

Sir Richard Branson plans to make astronautics history Sunday afternoon by becoming the first billionaire in space.

At around 3:30 p.m., the 70-year-old Virgin Galactic founder is expected to take off from a runway near the small town of Truth and Consequences in New Mexico during the first passenger flight of his company’s SpaceShipTwo space plane.

Nicknamed the VSS Unit, it will be brought to approximately 50,000 feet by a specially designed aircraft, WhiteKnightTwo, before detaching from the mothership, firing its hybrid rocket engine and climbing beyond Earth’s atmosphere into space.

Sir Richard will then enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness and stunning views across Unit12 windows, before re-entering the atmosphere and descending to a conventional landing between one and two hours after launch.

“By then we will have become astronauts,” Sir Richard told a US television crew last week.