For a company called Virgin Galactic, they surely did know how to penetrate the ozone layers, marking a new milestone for commercial space travel and eventual space tourism.
Virgin Galactic has launched first commercial space flight
Virgin Galactic is a California-based spaceflight company founded by Sir Richard Branson. They finally took their first customers to space and back down to Earth after having sold around 800 tickets for roundtrips on the aircraft. No one-way flight tickets were sold, unfortunately. Each seat can cost up to USD 450,000 (approx. THB 16 million), and the company is planning to expand to accommodate 400 flights per year.
Branson himself had already ridden with five other crew members for a test spaceflight back in 2021. The mission that Virgin Galactic envisioned is not to be purely touristic, but also to conduct experiments within space, from measuring physiological responses and biometric data, to brain function and heart rate while in state of microgravity.
[Hero and featured image credit: @virgingalactic/Twitter]
On 29 June, the official Twitter account posted: “Welcome back to Earth, #Galactic01! Our pilots, crew and spaceship have landed smoothly at @Spaceport_NM.”, with positive cheerful responses from followers.
The 90-minute ride was streamed around the world from launch till its landing at a runway in Spaceport America near El Paso, Texas. Virgin Galactic’s rocket plane had reached an altitude of around 53 miles before its descend. The crew of Galactic01 includes two pilots, a Virgin Galactic instructor, an aerospace engineer from the National Research Council of Italy, and two Italian air force colonels.
This flight is a remarkable moment for space industry which is aiming to expand into space tourism in the near future, and also a decisive moment for Virgin Galactic Holding Inc., as the company has suffered development setbacks as well as company stocks going down in value just before the launch.
It seems we have a worthy newcomer in the space race.
We ❤️ Italia #Galactic01 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/HBK9pp4tpR
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) June 29, 2023
Vichayuth Chantan
Digital Writer, Drinks and Dining
Writer by day and skinny legend by night, Vichayuth focuses on the hospitality industry of Thailand. You'll often find him at a bar finding new friends, discovering new drinks, and silently judging you from across the room.
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