'Today' to Air First Commercial Spaceflight

NBC's Today show will air the first-ever commercial spaceflight next year.

Through a deal reached with Virgin Galactic, the first commercial spaceline from Sir Richard Branson, the NBC morning show will televise Branson and his two children traveling into space on Virgin's SpaceShipTwo. The flight will come sometime next year.

The three-hour Today special will be hosted by Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie.

"Without a doubt, Sir Richard and his children taking the first commercial flight into space, will go down in history as one of the most memorable events on television," said Sharon Scott, president and general manager, Peacock Productions.  "Through NBCUniversal's multiple platforms and overseas network partners, viewers from around the world will get to experience this where were you moment; we're extremely honored to chronicle Sir Richard's journey and live launch into space."

NBC News' Peacock Productions will chronicle the journey across multiple NBCU brands and platforms including CNBC, MSNBC, NBCNews.com, Syfy, The Weather Channel and more. NBC will air a primetime special the night before the launch.

Last month, NBC greenlit a reality series with Branson, which will pit contestants against each other to come aboard Virgin Galactic.