This Sunday (July 11), billionaire Richard Branson and five other colleagues spent time in space with the first SpaceShipTwo Virgin Galactic spacecraft.
At 8:40 am local time (10:40 am EDT; 1440 GMT), passengers at Virgin Galactic's Unity 22 airport depart from Spaceport America's Airlines airport in New Mexico and fly just beyond the space limits, where four passengers and two pilots meet then about minutes. four survival.
It's been a lifelong experience, Branson said during the live broadcast of the plane. Named the "Astronaut 001" for the Unity 22 mission, Branson founded the Virgin Group of companies including Virgin Galactic.
The SpaceShipTwo vehicle, named VSS Unity, made a success, was named as a sub-pilot aircraft 282,000 meters (86 kilometers) above the ground before returning to Spaceport America for safe arrival. a flawless plane
The pilot is the company's fourth used aircraft, but the first to carry a full crew of two pilots and four mechanical engineers. In addition to Branson, a team of flight crews today includes Virgin Galactic astronaut astronaut Beth Moses; Colin Bennett, the company's chief engineer; and Sirisa Bandala, vice president of Virgin Galactic for government affairs and research. Pilots Dave McKay and Mike Masucci surrounded the group.
The Unity 22 mission lifted the VSS Unity spaceplane spacecraft from Spaceport America to 15,000 meters with the help of its VMS Eve "mother", the two-wheeled Whiteknight. After reaching these heights, VMS Eve took off the spacecraft and flew 86 miles above the earth's surface before returning to Earth and Spaceport America from where it came from. You didn't get very far. Virgin Galactic has invited a number of guests to the event, including customers booking future flights (paying $ 250,000 per seat). Branson's friend, chief executive of SpaceX and founder Elon Musk, was in the audience and wished the billionaire colleague all the best. Singer Khaled played his new song "New Normal" on his arrival (Branson and his team heard it during Glide Back to Earth), and Late Show comedian Stephen Colbert caught the company live on the webcast. .
Branson also announced a new partnership between Virgin Galactic and Omaze to secure two free tickets to the venue. Finally, the first pilots - Bala, Branson and Bennett - each received special wings for the Virgin Galactic astronaut, with a small SpaceShipTwo in it.
"We're in space, everyone!" Branson is excited about the post-flight press conference. "It's very exciting when a dream comes true for the rest of your life." With the Unity 22 test plane, Virgin Galactic aims to test the "local experience" of employees, according to a company statement. The flight focuses on "cabin objectives and customer experience", a shared statement, including a comfort check and how the cabinet feels for the whole team, details of weight loss and ground view, which shows how the team can do exploratory research and how staff training in Spaceport America prepares for missions.
Following this successful launch and landing, staff will now inspect vehicles and begin reviewing full details, according to the same statement. This update will help inform the company's flight plan and future visits as well. Virgin Galactic aims to launch two test planes before they start trading fully in 2022. For Virgin Galactic, today's launch has been a major milestone. After Branson founded the company in 2004, SpaceShipOne, a car built by Scaled Composites and funded by the late billionaire Paul Allen, won the $ 10 million Ansari X Aviation business award.
A deadly landslide in 2007 killed three employees of Scaled Composites, and in 2014, SpaceShipTwo, Virginia's first VSS Enterprise, crashed during a test flight. That horrible accident caused by a driver's error killed one driver and seriously injured another, prompting Virgin Galactic to introduce new safety measures to prevent this from happening again.