Virgin Galactic To Begin Commercial Spaceflight At The End Of June

British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, an American aerospace company, plans to begin commercial spaceflight in late June, the firm said in a statement.

Virgin Galactic plans to have its first commercial launch between June 27 and 30. The next flight should take place in early August, after which the company is going to make such launches every month. In May, Virgin Galactic launched the manned suborbital spacecraft VSS Unity for the first time since 2021. This was the sixth manned flight of this ship; in July 2021, a flight took place with the participation of Mr. Branson.

VSS Unity can rise 80-100 km above the Earth, up to the so-called Karman line, which is considered the boundary between the earth’s atmosphere and space. Commercial flights are supposed to be launched at 80 km. Virgin Galactic has already sold more than 800 tickets, they are now worth $450,000.

The mission will demonstrate “the value and power of Virgin Galactic’s unique suborbital science laboratory,” the report said.