WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic, the U.S.-based space tourism business bankrolled by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and a sovereign investment fund in the United Arab Emirates, cleared what some space lawyers said was an important regulatory hurdle for flying non-U.S. citizens on suborbital jaunts departing from New Mexico’s Spaceport America.

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Dan Leone is the NASA reporter for SpaceNews, where he also covers other civilian-run U.S. government space programs and a growing number of entrepreneurial space companies. He joined SpaceNews in 2011.Dan earned a bachelor's degree in public communications...