Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic announced Thursday that its first space tourist will launch as soon as Aug. 10.
The mission, called Galactic 02, will see three customers who have paid the original $250,000 or $450,000, implemented this year.
The crew, whose name has yet to be announced, will pack into the company’s spaceplane attached to the underside of a larger carrier plane and head off into space.
Once the pair reaches at least 45,000 feet, the rocket plane will separate and travel more than 50 miles above Earth’s surface.
Virgin Galactic has already booked a backlog of 800 customers waiting for their chance to go into space, made possible by the company’s inaugural mission in June.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic announced Thursday that its first space tourist will launch as soon as Aug. 10 (stock).
Branson’s company said it would release the flight manifest with the crew and pilot at a later date and is set to live stream the launch.
A three-man crew of its first-mission ‘Galactic-01’ made the brief suborbital ride, marking a long-delayed breakthrough for the company, nearly 20 years of development fraught with setbacks, finally commercial service.
The 90-minute mission took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico at 8:30 a.m. local time.
And ready to accomplish August’s mission in the same way.
The rocket plane, known as Unity, will be attached to the ‘mothership’, a carrier aircraft called VMS Eve.
Eve is a type of carrier plane and will take Unity far above Earth’s surface to release it.
Unity will then ignite its thrusters and shut down upon reaching space.
At the top of the flight, the spacecraft is expected to open its wings and hover above our planet’s atmosphere, allowing the crew to experience weightlessness and epic views of the final frontier for a few minutes.
The focus of the Galactic 01 mission was to conduct 13 experiments in zero gravity, which collected biometric data, measured cognitive function, and recorded how certain liquids and solids mix in microgravity conditions.
The rocket plane, known as Unity, will be attached to the ‘mothership’, a carrier aircraft called VMS Eve. Eve is a type of carrier plane and will take Unity far above Earth’s surface to release it. Unity will then ignite its thrusters and shut down upon reaching space.
The inaugural flight on June 29 included three Italian researchers
Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin use rockets to launch capsules into space, while Branson takes a different approach with mid-air launches.
Branson’s technique has been explored in decades of flight research, including the X-1, the first plane to break the sound barrier, and the X-15, the fastest-moving plane ever, which flew at 4,520 miles an hour. 1967 Flight.
And it greatly reduces fuel requirements because the craft isn’t using power from the rocket to crawl through the dense lower atmosphere.
Branson became the first billionaire in space during the VSS Unity’s maiden voyage on July 11, 2021.
Virgin Galactic founder VSS is one of six Virgin Galactic employees at Unity.
A brief design of a space plane interior featuring seats and windows to take in stunning views of space
Branson becomes first billionaire in space on July 11, 2021 VSS Unity’s maiden voyage
However, it was grounded shortly after takeoff due to an investigation while returning to the runway in the New Mexico desert.
Branson became the first billionaire in space during the VSS Unity’s maiden voyage on July 11, 2021.
Virgin Galactic founder VSS is one of six Virgin Galactic employees at Unity.
However, it was grounded shortly after takeoff due to an investigation while returning to the runway in the New Mexico desert.
In September 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was investigating a deviation in the landing of the flight.
The FAA, which oversees commercial aircraft and spacecraft in the US, found the spacecraft ‘deviated from its air traffic control clearance’ and did so for about one minute and 41 seconds.