The Virgin Galactic Company successfully completed the first commercial mission on June 29, carrying 4 passengers into suborbital space and back to Earth.
The latest flight is a major milestone for Virgin Galactic. The flight took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico at 9:30 p.m. on June 29 Hanoi time and reached suborbital space after 58 minutes. After floating for a few minutes at an altitude of 85.1 km, the spacecraft returned to Spaceport Americaɑ and landed at 10:42 p.m. the same day.
The first commercial flight into sub-orbital space of the Unity spacecraft. (Video: Telegraph)
British businessman Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic in 2004. The company’s first aircraft was the $10 million award-winning SpaceShipOne Ansari X in October 2024 after soaring into suborbital space twice in under one week. Virgin Gɑlactic has developed the ЅpaceShipTwo sub-orbital spacecraft based on this personal vehicle. SpaceShipTwo was brought into the air by transport planes. After separating at an altitude of 15,000m, this plane will fire its rocket engine and soar into space. The plane’s passengers will spend a few minutes in zero gravity and observe the earth amidst the black background of the universe before returning to the runway approximately 70 to 90 minutes after takeoff.
In December 2018, the completion of a test flight of the latest version of SpaceShipTwo named VSS unit Can carry 6 passengers and 2 pilots. Unity continues to fly in February 2019, May 2021 and July 2021. Virgin Galactic then retired Unit and its VMS Eve transport plane for nearly 2 years for maintenance and upgrades, so the duo could be ready for commercial operation with higher frequency. The upgraded Eve and Unity aircraft took off again on May 23, ascending into suborbital space on the fifth and final test flight. Following this success, Virgin Galactic announced the first pair of passenger-ready aircraft on a mission called Galactic 01.
Galactic 01 passengers included Italian Air Force Colonel Walter Villadei, Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi and Pantaleone Carlucci, Italian National Research Council Strategic Project Coordinator. The trio will carry a bunch of scientific equipment in flight. For example, Villadei wears a biometric data suit that monitors how the body reacts to microgravity, and Parlucci wears a variety of body sensors for the same purpose. Landolfi will conduct experiments mixing multiple solids and liquids in microgravity and determine how flight affects cognition.
The fourth passenger in Unity’s cabin is Colin Bennett, Virgin Galactic’s astronaut trainer, who will assess the flight experience of three Italian passengers. Mike Masucci and Nicola Pecile have also flown in space as VSS Unity commanders and pilots. Kelly Latimer and Jameel Janjua are two VMS Eve pilots.
The second commercial flight, Galactic 02, will take place in early August.
The second commercial flight, Galactic 02, will take place in early August.
Gɑlactic 01 is just the start of the mission, if all goes according to plan. Virgin Galactic says it has taken reservations from 800 passengers to fly on SpaceShipTwo at a price of $450,000 per seat. The second commercial flight, Galactic 02, will take place in early August.
Virgin Galactic builds a fleet of space planes and transport planes. The new Delta-class spacecraft can fly once a week. Once Delta is operational, it is expected that in 2026, Virgin Galactic will be able to send passengers into space every day, from many places around the world.
Article source: VnExpress
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Virgin Galactic recently successfully completed its first commercial mission on June 29, carrying four passengers into suborbital space and back to Earth….
