Virgin Galactic will conduct its first commercial flight at the end of this month
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic will conduct its first commercial flight to the edge of space at the end of this month. A second flight will follow at the beginning of August. Virgin promises monthly flights after that. The company has wanted to offer commercial suborbital flights for years.
Virgin Galactic confirms that the first fully commercial flight will take place between June 27 and 30. The mission that then takes place is called Galactic 01. It consists of three members of the air force and the national research institute of Italy. They will conduct scientific research during the flight. This includes physiological research into microgravity on the body, cognitive skills during the weightless period and how organs such as the heart and brain function during that period. The passengers also conduct research into the effects of microgravity on liquids. The experiments don’t last long; passengers are weightless for only a few minutes on Virgin flights.
In addition to the three passengers, three crew members will also join the mission. In addition to the pilot and co-pilot, there is also a safety employee who deals with the passengers.
Galactic 01 is Virgin Galactic’s first official commercial flight. That company was founded in 2004 and wants to offer short, suborbital flights with its own vehicle. That aircraft, VSS Unity, will take off aboard the VMS Eve, a two-part aircraft under which the small rocket-powered passenger spacecraft hangs. At an altitude of about 15 kilometers, Unity must detach and reach an altitude of just above the Kármàn line, the border of space, under its own power. After a few minutes, the ‘space explorers’ have to glide back to earth and land like an airplane.
Virgin Galactic says it has wanted to offer commercial flights for years, but until now this has not been possible due to various circumstances. Passengers can pay around 250,000 euros for a ticket. The flights were delayed due to, among other things, a major crash in 2014, in which one of the pilots was killed.
The Galactic 01 flight was also delayed. This was initially scheduled to take place in October 2021. Shortly before, Virgin flew outside the designated flight area during a test flight, prompting US authorities to launch an investigation.
It is not Virgin Galactic’s first fully staffed passenger flight. This already took place in 2021. During that test flight, Unity 22, founder Richard also took to the air. The flight only reached an altitude of 86 kilometers, which according to many authorities is not considered the limit of space.
The Galactic 01 flight is immediately followed by a second flight. That’s Galactic 02, which is supposed to take place in August. After that, Virgin says that a new flight should take place every month, but the company has not yet provided details about which flights these will be.