In its early days, the company took deposits from A-list names including Ashton Kutcher, Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio. Virgin Galactic has had lofty ambitions for this spaceflight model.
The craft typically reaches a height just above 50 miles, where the crew can see the curvature of the Earth from the dark of space, before gliding back down to the runway. Once the pair reaches an altitude of 46,000 feet, the spaceplane detaches and ignites a hybrid rocket-engine, propelling it to sub-orbital space. The company’s primary vehicle is its VSS Unity, which is carried aloft under the wing of an unusual, twin-fuselage carrier aircraft called VMS Eve. They were joined by Virgin Galactic employee Colin Bennett and two pilots. The passengers included Walter Villadei and Angelo Landolfi of Italy’s air force, as well as Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer with the National Research Council of Italy. Thursday’s flight, called Galactic 01, offered the crew an opportunity to run experiments and test payloads in a space environment. I would say the time is coming where they really do need to deliver on that.” “He’s been very patient with trying to see this company through to success. “Branson founded Virgin Galactic almost 20 years ago now,” said Caleb Henry, director of research at space advisory firm Quilty Analytics. Virgin Galactic has a narrower focus than its competitors, which have other revenue streams such as satellite-launch services or cargo supply missions for NASA. The company now faces pressure to deliver on Branson’s dream of offering regular space tourism missions. It’s Virgin Galactic’s highest-profile flight since Branson flew to the edge of space in 2021.ĭespite the successful mission, Virgin Galactic’s frequently volatile stock tumbled Thursday, renewing questions over its business model. While the company has carried employees on several previous test missions, the latest launch was the first with ticket-holding passengers. Virgin Galactic has said it expects to move soon to a regular cadence of monthly commercial flights, bringing in much-needed revenue. The commercial debut officially ushers Virgin Galactic into the ranks of space tourism providers alongside the likes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin LLC. SEE MORE: Get in line for zero gravity and, oh, bring $250,000 That was about an hour after the flight took off, carrying six people on board, including researchers from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy. local time in New Mexico, Virgin Galactic revealed in a livestream of the event on its website Thursday. The VSS Unity craft reached space at about 9:30 a.m. Tustin-based Virgin Galactic Holdings sent paying customers to the edge of space for the first time, a milestone for the Richard Branson-founded company almost two decades in the making.
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