Virgin Galactic gets OK for passenger flights to space and Richard Branson will be on one

Billionaire Richard Branson's spaceship company Virgin Galactic said on Fridayit received approval from the U.S. aviation safety regulator to fly people to space, turning up the pressure on rivals in the nascent and expensive space tourism sector.

The approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) comes at a critical time for Branson as his space venture faces off against Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Branson, Bezos and Musk have been investing billions of dollars on their rocket startups.

Branson, who is reportedly flying to space himself in a bid to beat rival billionaire Bezos to the final frontier, received the green light just a month after a successful test flight.

In May, Virgin Galactic completed its first crewedspace flight from its new home port in New Mexico, as its SpaceShipTwo craft with a capacity of six passengers glided to a landing on a runway safely with its two pilots.

"Today's approval by the FAA ... gives us confidence as we proceed toward our first fully crewed test flight this summer," Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement.