Virgin Galactic's space plane makes 1st powered test flight since 2014 accident

Virgin Galactic, which aims to eventually bring paying customers to the edge of space, is flying high again.

The Richard Branson-founded company just performed the first rocket-powered test flight of its SpaceShipTwo space plane since the first vehicle was destroyed in a fatal accident on October 31, 2014.

This SpaceShipTwo -- called the VSS Unity -- took to the air attached to its carrier aircraft on Thursday and flew for about an hour before being released.

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Once flying freely, Unity's rocket engine powered on, breaking the sound barrier before coming back in for a landing in Mojave, California.

This marks Unity's 12th flight but the first time the space plane has used its engine while in flight.

"Space feels tantalisingly close now," Branson wrote in a tweet. Branson has previously said that they could start commercial flights sometime this year.

Unity's powered flight marks a major milestone for Virgin Galactic in the wake of the 2014 accident, which killed one pilot and seriously injured another, while destroying the space plane.

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In the intervening years, Virgin Galactic managed to get its program back up and running, taking Unity through meticulous testing and putting more safeguards in place to protect pilots and eventually customers.

Once testing with Unity is complete, Virgin Galactic hopes to start flying customers up to about 62 miles, or 100 kilometers above Earth, where they'll be able to see the planet against the blackness of space.

Space tourists flying with Virgin should experience the feeling of zero-gravity before coming back in for a landing. Each flight can accommodate up to six passengers at a time.

A ticket to fly aboard Unity costs about $250,000, and the company says it has already sold about 650 of them.