Virgin Galactic has successfully completed its first commercial spaceflight with ‘Galactic 01’. VSS Unity left Spaceport America in New Mexico at 10:30 a.m. ET and reached suborbital space approximately 58 minutes later. The spacecraft floated at an apogee of 52.9 miles before safely returning to Spaceport America at 11:42 a.m. ET.
Some of the mission objectives included conducting 13 human-tended and autonomous experiments to examine the biomedical field, thermo-fluid dynamics as well as the development of sustainable materials in microgravity conditions. Data was also collected through wearable research payloads and sensors, along with autonomous research payloads mounted in the cabin.
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Today, our team successfully flew six people and more than a dozen research payloads to space in VSS Unity, our unique, suborbital science lab. This historic flight was our first commercial flight and our first dedicated commercial research mission – ushiner in a new era of repeatable and reliable access to space for private passengers and researchers. ‘Galactic 02’, our first spaceflight with private astronauts, is planned for August and we expect VSS Unity to continue with monthly space missions while we simultaneously work to scale our future spaceship fleet for a global audience,” said Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic.
