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Richard Branson finally goes to space on Sunday.

It’s been a long wait for Mr Branson, the irreverent 70-year-old British billionaire who leads a galaxy of Virgin companies. In 2004, he founded Virgin Galactic to provide adventure tourists with trips to the edge of space and back in rocket-powered airplanes.

At the time, he thought commercial service would begin in two to three years. Instead, nearly 17 years passed. Virgin Galactic says it needs to run three more test flights, including Sunday, before it’s ready for paying passengers.

For this flight, Mr. Branson will be a member of the crew. Its job is to evaluate the cabin experience for future customers.

When and how can I watch the flight?

The flight is scheduled to depart from Spaceport America in New Mexico, about 180 miles south of Albuquerque, on Sunday morning.

Virgin will release coverage of the flight Beginning at 9 a.m. eastern time, Stephen Colbert hosts the live broadcast. Singer Khalid is scheduled to sing a new song after the crew landed and SpaceX founder Elon Musk suggested it may appear.

What is Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane and what will it do?

The rocket plane, a type called SpaceShipTwo, is about the size of an executive jet. In addition to the two pilots, there will be four people in the cabin. This particular SpaceShipTwo is named VSS Unity.

Unity is transported to an altitude of approximately 50,000 feet in a larger plane to take off from the ground. There Unity will be released and the engine of the rocket plane will be ignited. The acceleration will allow people on board to feel a force of up to 3.5 times their normal weight when traveling to an altitude of more than 50 mph.

At the top of the arc, those on board will be able to rise from their seats and experience about four minutes of apparent weightlessness. Of course, they wouldn’t actually have escaped gravity. Fifty miles up, the Earth’s downward gravitational force is essentially as strong as on the ground; instead, passengers will fall at the same speed as the aircraft around them.

The two tail booms at the rear of the spaceplane rotate up to a “feathered” configuration that creates more drag and stability, allowing the airplane to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere more gently. This configuration makes the SpaceShipTwo look more like a badminton shuttlecock, which always falls with the pointed side down, rather than an airplane.

However, the forces felt by passengers descending will be greater than when ascending, reaching six times the force of gravity.

As the aircraft returns to the atmosphere, the tail booms rotate downward and the aircraft glides towards landing. The entire flight can take less than two hours.

Who are the crew members on the flight?

Pilots David Mackay and Michael Masucci.

In addition to Mr. Branson, three Virgin Galactic employees will evaluate what the experience will be like for future paying customers. They are chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses; Colin Bennett, chief operations engineer; and Sirisha Bandla, vice president of government affairs and research operations. Ms. Bandla will also conduct a science experiment provided by the University of Florida.