“I’ve dreamed of this moment since I was a child and honestly, nothing could prepare you for the view of Earth from space,” Branson said after landing on that historic flight aboard Virgin’s VSS Unity spacecraft. Galactic that, this Sunday, July 11, made history after carrying out the first tourist space flight. The era of commercial space flight is officially inaugurated.
The ship carried the company’s billionaire founder and three Virgin Galactic employees. It made a horizontal takeoff and flew for an hour at an altitude of 15 kilometers before releasing the space plane carrying Richard Branson and the crew so they could leave Earth’s atmosphere.
The spacecraft needed to reach the boundary between space and Earth, about 80 km high. At this point, the blue of the sky turns black, the curvature of the planet can be seen, and it is possible to float in weightlessness. After spending several minutes in orbit, VSS Unity successfully landed in New Mexico at 9:38 am local time.
The brief up and down flight was devised as a way to boost public trust in Virgin Galactic, which plans to start taking paying customers on leisure travel next year. The cost will be about $ 250,000 per flight, which will include four minutes in zero gravity.
VSS Unity is designed to accommodate up to six passengers along with the two pilots. The company has around 600 reservations for future flights.
“We are here to make space more accessible to everyone,” said Branson. “The mission statement that I wrote inside my spacesuit was to make the dream of space travel a reality for my grandchildren … and for many people who live today, for everyone.”
A specific date for paid passenger flights has yet to be announced, although the company has said it will begin service after carrying out three additional successful test flights, due to take place later this year.
The company said it also wants to demonstrate the conditions for conducting human-led research experiments and confirm that the training program at Spaceport America supports the spaceflight experience.
Branson is the first of the founders of the multi-million dollar space company to assemble his own spaceship. But will not be the one. It is expected that in a week Jeff Bezos of Amazon will do the same with a spacecraft of his company Blue Origin, specifically on July 20, coinciding with the 52 anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
