Virgin Galactic achieved on Thursday June 29, a significant milestone by successfully flying its first paying customers to the boundary of space, marking a highly anticipated accomplishment that repositions the company within the evolving realm of private space travel.
Virgin Galactic successfully flew its first paying customers to the final frontier Thursday, a long-awaited achievement that puts it back on track in the emerging private spaceflight sector.
The mission dubbed Galactic 01 began when a giant, twin-fuselage “mothership” aircraft took off from a runway at Spaceport America, New Mexico, around 8:30 am local time (1430 GMT).
The stream showed Unity later gliding back safely to Earth.
The flight came almost two years after Virgin Galactic’s founder Richard Branson flew to space in a test flight meant to usher in a new era of lucrative space tourism.
The company ended its spaceflight pause with a successful test in May, paving the way for Thursday’s mission. In total, it ran five test flights before Thursday’s commercial flight.
The Galactic 01 crew were tasked with conducting 13 supervised and autonomous experiments, and collecting data on their suits and sensors in the cabin.
The company is now looking to the future. The next mission, Galactic 02, is set for August, and then it hopes to make monthly space hops after that.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP