Almost two years after its last flight, which was also attended by the tycoon and founder Richard Branson, the space tourism company Virgin Galactic recently announced that it will resume flights, also planning the launch of commercial travel as early as June.
According to the British entrepreneur, the new "Unity 25" mission will take place at the end of May 2023, with a crew of four company employees, thus giving the company a new push after the July 2021 stop.
"The Unity 25 mission is critically important for the final evaluation of the entire space program system and astronaut experience before commercial service opens at the end of June," Virgin Galactic said in a statement.
Unlike other similar companies, which use vertical launch rockets, Branson's "creature" uses a transport aircraft that takes off from a runway, then gains a high altitude, which in the specific case of Unity 25 will be 80 kilometers above sea level, then let a rocket plane fly towards its intended target before returning to Earth.
This will be the company's fifth trip, after taking tourists to space in 2021, with a total travel time of 90 minutes and passengers experiencing weightlessness in the main aircraft cabin for a few minutes.
Virgin flights will depart from Spaceport America, New Mexico, with the crew of the Unity 25 mission which will consist of two men and two women: Beth Moses, who had already taken part in two previous Virgin Galactic flights, Jamila Gilbert, Chris Huie and Luke Mays.
The Virgin Galactic space program, despite having suffered years of delays also due to an accident in 2014 which led to the death of the pilot, has always enjoyed great marketing success. With the sale of 800 tickets for future commercial flights: 600 between 2005 and 2014 at a price between 200,000 and 250,000 dollars plus 200 other tickets in recent years for about 450,000 dollars.
Will this trip be the official launch pad for the Space Tourism Era?
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