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I'm not sure if I'm supposed to post this question in https://space.stackexchange.com/ or https://travel.stackexchange.com/ but today I heard from a friend for the first time that Virgin Galactic has already flown the first tourists into space this year.

After searching for sometime I have not been able to find any sources to confirm this information. The only thing I've been able to find is that it's planning to take "astronauts" before Christmas this year and by astronauts they actually mean test pilots.

The most relevant article I have been able to find is this. Did Virgin Galactic fly any tourists yet?

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  • Hello and welcome to Skeptics SE. Skeptics SE exists to examine notable claims, and I am sorry to say that "I heard from a friend that..." is not a basis for a notable claim. Also, that CNN article is an outright answer to your question. Hence I am voting to close this question since 1) it is off-topic and 2) it is already answered by your own source.
    – user32299
    Commented Dec 7, 2018 at 9:59
  • Hi trebor. This is off topic because the article you link to literally tells you the answer to the question you are looking for. It says that nobody has flown in space yet, and the first few flights will be test pilots. Plenty of other articles would have told you the same thing.
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Dec 7, 2018 at 14:25

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No, and they are not even close to doing so.

There was one SpaceShip Two, named VSS Enterprise. It suffered a crash on its fourth powered test flight, before achieving the license to carry passengers.

Quoting from WP: Virgin Galactic, emphasis mine:

By September of 2014, the three test flights of the SS2 had only reached an altitude of around 71,000 ft, approximately 13 miles; in order to receive a Federal Aviation Administration licence to carry passengers, the craft needs to complete test missions at full speed and 62-mile height.

[...]

At 10.51am PST 31 October 2014, the fourth rocket-powered test flight of one of the company's SpaceShipTwo craft, VSS Enterprise, ended in disaster, as it broke apart in midair...

The second SpaceShip Two, named VSS Unity, is still undergoing test flights.

  • Flight 13, on 2018-05-29, tested the changed center of gravity as passenger seats carried for the first time.
  • Flight 14, on 2018-07-26, reached the Mesosphere for the first time (52km of altitude).

These are the last two test flights at the time of this writing. No license to carry passengers, and even the test flights haven't crossed the Kármán line into space yet (100km of altitude), or even the USAAF more generous definition of 80km of altitude.

So, no passengers, and no "space".

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