Billionaire Branson rides a bicycle to space flight launch site; See Pics

Swashbuckling billionaire Richard Branson arrived in a bicycle to his company Virgin Galactic's New Mexico launch site from where he flew on his space flight on July 11.(Image Credit: Reuters Photo)

Swashbuckling billionaire Richard Branson arrived in a bicycle to his company Virgin Galactic's New Mexico launch site from where he flew on his space flight on July 11.

Pictures showed the 70-year-old riding a bicycle at Spaceport America, built in large part at his initiative, in the US state of New Mexico.

The nearly 71-year-old Branson and five crewmates from his Virgin Galactic space-tourism company reached an altitude of 53.5 miles (86 kilometers) over the New Mexico desert — enough to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness and witness the curvature of the Earth — and then glided to a runway landing.

Richard Branson is seen congratulating the crew on board Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane VSS Unity after their ascent to the edge of space above Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.