[ad_1]
Virgin Galactic completed what is expected to be its final test flight on Thursday before taking paying customers on a short trip into space, marking what the space tourism company described as a “fantastic achievement.”
Six company employees, including two pilots, landed at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico after a short up-and-down flight that included several minutes of weightlessness.
It took about an hour for the carrier to bring the spacecraft to an altitude of 13,563 meters (almost 44,500 feet), where it was released and fired the rocket motors to make the final push.
“Successful boost, WE have reached SPACE!” Virgin Galactic tweeted.
Successful boost, WE have reached SPACE! 🌌#UNITY25
It reached an altitude of 87 kilometers before gliding back to the runway, according to the company.
Jamila Gilbert, who grew up in southern New Mexico and leads the company’s internal communications, is among those evaluating what will become paying customers.
“It’s hard to talk about this experience, but I’m sure it will haunt me for the rest of my life,” Gilbert said in a statement released after the flight.
“As one of the very few nontechnical people to fly into space, my role in this mission marks a sea change in who can go to space, and a promising sign of opportunities for Virgin Galactic and the commercial sector of space.
The flight comes nearly two years after founder Richard Branson beat billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and rocket company Blue Origin into space. Bezos finally flew nine days later from west Texas and Blue Origin began launching several passenger trips.
Virgin Galactic has been working for more than a decade to send paying passengers on short space hops and in 2021 it finally got federal government approval.
The next step will be for Virgin Galactic to analyze the data from Thursday’s flight and inspect the aircraft and other equipment as the company prepares for commercial service, possibly in late June.
Judy Anderson, a retired science professor from Winnipeg, has been planning a trip to space with billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic for more than a decade and made a $20,000 down payment on a $200,000 ticket. He said the trip seemed closer to reality after Branson’s Sunday trip.
Tickets are currently $450,000 US
The initial commercial flight will include members of the Italian air force who will conduct experiments. Next will come customers who bought tickets last year for a chance to weigh in on a winged spaceship launched from the belly of the plane.
About 800 tickets have been sold over the past decade, with the initial batch at $200,000 each. Tickets are currently priced at $450,000 per person.
Virgin Galactic has reached its fifth destination since 2018 and will aim for 400 flights a year from Spaceport America once it finishes building the next class of rocket-powered aircraft at its facility in neighboring Arizona.
After Branson’s trip, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the flight as it investigated a problem that caused the rocket ship to veer off course as it descended onto a runway in the New Mexico desert. Virgin Galactic insisted that Branson and others were not in danger.
The company made changes to the carrier aircraft and spacecraft. The delay was nearly twice as long as expected, partly due to supply chain issues and labor shortages.
[ad_2]
Source link