Richard Branson set to rocket to space on Sunday

It's one giant leap for British billionaire Richard Branson as he attempts to become the first owner of a private space company to fly into space.

His Virgin Galactic VSS Unity spaceship is scheduled to lift off on 11 July from a private Spaceport in New Mexico, US at 7am - which is 2pm in the UK.

Branson, two pilots and three other Virgin Galactic employees will be testing the astronaut experience of the flight, which the company hopes to offer to paying customers within a year.

Those wanting a seat will have to have to pay big bucks, as tickets prices are likely to be between $300,000 (£217,000) and $400,000!

Branson announced plans for the flight on social media, saying: "I've always been a dreamer. My mum taught me to never give up and to reach for the stars. On July 11, it's time to turn that dream into a reality aboard the next @VirginGalactic spaceflight."

The company's plane will carry the VSS Unity spaceship under its 140-foot wingspan. When it reaches nine miles high, Unity will detach from the plane and blast to the edge of space using its rocket engine.

If all goes to plan, Branson and his team will travel 50 miles above the Earth's surface, the point considered to mark the end of the Earth's atmosphere and the beginning of space!

There will be several minutes of weightlessness and then the spacecraft will travel back to the spaceport.

The flight is expected to take 90 minutes.

Branson wants to use this spaceflight to "evaluate the private astronaut experience", such as seat comfort and views of Earth.

Two further test flights are planned before Virgin Galactic begins the service for paying customers in 2022. By 2023, the company hopes to be running 100 flights a year.

If Sunday's launch is successful, it would mark the next phase in a privately-owned space race between Branson, the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, and the Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk.