Photo: Virgin Galactic
Back in 2021 the world of space travel entered a new dimension. Within a span of just a few months, three private space companies took civilians to space: Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic.
And just as we were expecting a revolution in this field, everything died down. For various reasons all three companies dropped their civilian-crewed space launches, and in 2022 almost nothing spectacular happened. And we were kind of expecting 2023 to be just as poor in this respect. That's until Virgin Galactic announced it would resume operations later in May.
Richard Branson's business is fresh from completing a glide test flight with the Unity spaceship. The mission, the ship's 24th, took place in late April, and targeted its ability to glide to safety after it reached space.
The flight was a success and opened the doors to a rocket-powered spaceflight. It too will be a test run, probably the last one prior to Virgin actually opening its doors for commercial operations, a move targeted for the second quarter of the year.
The late May flight will have no less than six people on board, making the Unity look like it's packed full of people. Two of them are the pilots, Mike Masucci and CJ Sturckow. The other four are so-called mission specialists, meaning Virgin people tasked with assessing the "customer experience" aboard the spacecraft. The four are Virgin's chief astronaut instructor Beth Mosses, former NASA astronaut trainer Luke Mays, Virgin's head of the Black Leaders in Aerospace Scholarship and Training program Christopher Huie, and Jamila Gilbert.
The mission will be Unity's 25th, and its profile is the same as before. The spaceship will climb attached to its carrier plane, VMS Eve, to a set altitude where it will be released. From there, it will use its rocket engines to move past the Karman line in feathered flight.
The ship will then re-enter the atmosphere and glide down to a landing strip – and that's what April’s glide test was all about.
If the flight is successful and the "customer experience" is satisfactory, commercial operations should open in June with a mission called Galactic 01.
Despite the bankruptcy of its other space operation, Virgin Orbit, Richard Branson is so confident this kind of business, which involves actual, paying human beings, is a winning one.
In November last year we were told plans are to build six spaceships of a new design called Delta per year, in a bid to ensure weekly departures to space. This type of spacecraft will have the ability to carry six people plus pilots, just like the Unity, but won't be seen in the sky sooner than 2025.
Until then, fingers crossed for Virgin Galactic's Unity25 mission. After all, the more people safely go up there the higher the chances ticket prices will go down eventually, and everyone will be able to afford a trip.
Richard Branson's business is fresh from completing a glide test flight with the Unity spaceship. The mission, the ship's 24th, took place in late April, and targeted its ability to glide to safety after it reached space.
The flight was a success and opened the doors to a rocket-powered spaceflight. It too will be a test run, probably the last one prior to Virgin actually opening its doors for commercial operations, a move targeted for the second quarter of the year.
The late May flight will have no less than six people on board, making the Unity look like it's packed full of people. Two of them are the pilots, Mike Masucci and CJ Sturckow. The other four are so-called mission specialists, meaning Virgin people tasked with assessing the "customer experience" aboard the spacecraft. The four are Virgin's chief astronaut instructor Beth Mosses, former NASA astronaut trainer Luke Mays, Virgin's head of the Black Leaders in Aerospace Scholarship and Training program Christopher Huie, and Jamila Gilbert.
The mission will be Unity's 25th, and its profile is the same as before. The spaceship will climb attached to its carrier plane, VMS Eve, to a set altitude where it will be released. From there, it will use its rocket engines to move past the Karman line in feathered flight.
The ship will then re-enter the atmosphere and glide down to a landing strip – and that's what April’s glide test was all about.
If the flight is successful and the "customer experience" is satisfactory, commercial operations should open in June with a mission called Galactic 01.
Despite the bankruptcy of its other space operation, Virgin Orbit, Richard Branson is so confident this kind of business, which involves actual, paying human beings, is a winning one.
In November last year we were told plans are to build six spaceships of a new design called Delta per year, in a bid to ensure weekly departures to space. This type of spacecraft will have the ability to carry six people plus pilots, just like the Unity, but won't be seen in the sky sooner than 2025.
Until then, fingers crossed for Virgin Galactic's Unity25 mission. After all, the more people safely go up there the higher the chances ticket prices will go down eventually, and everyone will be able to afford a trip.
Google News