Virgin Galactic took its first tourists on Thursday, August 10, for a brief trip into space, a long-awaited step for the company founded by billionaire Richard Branson in 2004.
The first space tourists from the US company arrived in space this Thursday afternoon shortly before 5:30 p.m. (French time), announced the company founded by billionaire Richard Branson, thus fulfilling a promise made two decades ago.
Three passengers, ages 18 to 80
The three passengers are Jon Goodwin, 80, Keisha Schahaff, 46, and their daughter Anastatia Mayers, 18. They spent a few minutes in space, where they were able to admire the curvature of the Earth and briefly float in zero gravity.
The three passengers were accompanied, on the VSS Unity vessel, by a company employee in charge of supervising them, and two pilots.
This mission, called Galactic 02, is the second commercial flight of the American company, after a first carried out at the end of June.
But it had carried senior officers of the Italian Air Force who had carried out various experiments on board, not civilians making the trip for pleasure.
Prior to that, the company had conducted several test flights, including one with Richard Branson himself, in July 2021. In all, Thursday will mark the seventh time the spacecraft has gone into space.
A ship launched by a transport plane
A huge transport plane first took off from a conventional runway in New Mexico, then, about 15 kilometers above sea level, dropped the craft, which looks like a large private jet.
Immediately afterwards, he started his engine to accelerate vertically until he exceeded 80 km in altitude, the limit that marks the beginning of space according to the US military. He then floated down.
Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastatia Mayers are both from Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean and won their ticket by participating in a fundraiser organized by Virgin Galactic.
The news had been communicated to Keisha Schahaff by Richard Branson himself, who had surprised her by going to her house to give her her astronaut suit.
The third passenger, the British Jon Goodwin, participated in the 1972 Olympic Games. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2014, he will be the second person with this disease to travel to space. At 80 years old, however, he will not be the oldest, this record is held by William Shatner, at 90.
Fewer than 700 people have flown into space so far, according to Virgin Galactic, which now promises one space flight a month.
A $450,000 ticket
Some 800 customers bought his ticket, initially priced between $200,000 and $250,000 per passenger, later rising to $450,000.
Virgin Galactic’s space program has been years behind schedule, notably due to a 2014 accident that killed a pilot.
Virgin Galactic competes with billionaire Jeff Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, which also offers short suborbital flights and has already sent 31 people into space.
But since a September 2022 crash during a drone flight, his rocket has been grounded. Blue Origin had promised in March to resume spaceflight “soon.”
Source: BFM TV
