EXPLAINER: How Richard Branson will ride own rocket to space

Virgin Galactic will become the first rocket company to launch the boss when Richard Branson straps into one of his sleek, shiny space planes this weekend.

The self-described tie-loathing adventurer and troublemaker will join five company employees for Sunday’s test flight from New Mexico's southern desert — the company’s fourth trip to the edge of space.

Branson assigned himself to Virgin Galactic’s first full-scale crew, jumping ahead of Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos, an even richer rocketeer looking to launch himself into space. Bezos’ liftoff is set for July 20 from West Texas.

A brief look at Branson’s ride and company:

BOSS ON BOARD

Just a week shy of turning 71, the London-born founder of the Virgin Group says he's "not apprehensive at all and it is the dream of a lifetime” to ride into space. The longtime fitness fanatic put in extra effort to prepare for the brief up-and-down flight. “I’m in my 70s now so you either let yourself go or you get fit and enjoy life.” His wife, children and grandchildren will be there as he climbs aboard the rocket plane that’s attached to a dual-fuselage aircraft for takeoff. During the three to four minutes of weightlessness, “I’ll be looking back at our beautiful Earth and taking it all in and realize that only 500 other people have done this.” Closer to 600, actually, but still a relatively small number. Upon landing, he’ll celebrate with “a great, great grin on my face.”

WHO ELSE IS FLYING

Two pilots are needed to fly the rocket plane from the time it’s released from the mothership to shoot into space until it glides down to a runway. It will be the third trip to space for chief pilot David Mackay, a Scottish-born test pilot for the Royal Air Force who went on to fly for Branson’s Virgin Atlantic, and the second for chief flight...