Space & Physics

Virgin Galactic Completes Its First Commercial Flight

Billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic successfully completed its first commercial passenger flight into space on June 29. This is stated on the company’s Twitter page.

The spacecraft was attached to the Eve carrier aircraft, which took off from the launch pad in New Mexico (USA). Unity separated at an altitude of about 15 kilometers, after which it continued to move due to its own engines.

As a result, he rose to a height of more than 84 kilometers, which is about 3.5 kilometers above the edge of space. Passengers were able to spend several minutes in zero gravity and see the surface of the Earth.  In total, the flight lasted 14 minutes.

On board the spacecraft were two pilots, a Virgin Galactic instructor and three Italian Air Force personnel who paid for the tickets. As well as 13 research vehicles, thanks to which the crew managed to conduct several scientific experiments.

The start of commercial service to Virgin Galactic came after years of delays and setbacks. The company has previously said that if Galactic 01 proves successful, it plans to launch a second mission as early as August and will then aim to launch its VSS Unity spacecraft once a month.

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