Virgin Galactic successfully sends Richard Branson to the edge of space

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and a team of Virgin Galactic employees made a clean landing in New Mexico on Sunday after being launched into space aboard the company’s SpaceShipTwo spacecraft. The mission, dubbed Unity 22, marked the fourth space test flight for the vehicle and the first for Branson, the 70-year-old daredevil entrepreneur who has been waiting more than a decade for his first trip to the edge. from space.

The SpaceShipTwo plane, dubbed VSS Unity, took off at 10:40 a.m. ET strapped to the belly of Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnight twin-fuselage plane. Unity fell from the center of the carrier vehicle to an altitude of about 45,000 feet approximately 50 minutes after takeoff. Moments later, VSS Unity ignited its unique rocket motor to explode to the edge of space, about 55 miles above the ground. The crew enjoyed a few moments of weightlessness before returning to land in New Mexico at Spaceport America, the hub of Virgin Galactic’s nascent space tourism business.

Galactic Virgo

Branson shared congratulatory handshakes with fellow crew members, calling the flight the “experience of a lifetime” as heard over the plane’s jerky line of communication with ground control .

“Feeling good, feeling excited, feeling ready,” Branson tweeted hours before take off. He said he started the morning with a visit to Elon Musk, who is in New Mexico to attend the mission in person. On board SpaceShipTwo with Branson are two pilots, Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, and three other crew members in the cabin: Chief Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses, Chief Operations Engineer Colin Bennett and Vice -President of Government Affairs and Research Operations Sirisha Bandla. The crew will test the experience in the cabin of Virgin Galactic.

A video Branson tweeted on Sunday morning showed the billionaire cycling on a route to Virgin Galactic spaceport just before sunrise, flanked by two white SUVs. He met Moses, Bennett and Bandla, Moses saying, “You are late! Come on, get dressed, let’s go! To attendees, the company’s New Mexico spaceport looked like a music festival across the spaceport – dozens of guests watched the mission start on a giant screen in the center of a stage. installed just outside the building, Spaceport America. Stephen Colbert hosts the mission livestream, and singer-songwriter Khalid will perform a new single on this stage after Branson’s robbery.

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP via Getty Images

Space tourism ready to take off

Virgin Galactic previously planned to fly Branson as a passenger on a subsequent test flight, but earlier this month the company announced it would be flying Unity 22 as a member of crew instead. This allowed Branson to get to space before his rival Jeff Bezos, another billionaire who plans to fly his space company’s New Shepard rocket to the edge of space on July 20. It’s a show of PR-intensive competition, but for Branson, who turns 71 on July 18, it’s fulfilling a decades-long dream of going to space. And for Virgin Galactic, flying its billionaire founder is seen as confidence that SpaceShipTwo is safe for everyone. In 2014, the company suffered a mid-flight disaster during a test flight that killed one pilot and seriously injured another. After this flight, Branson promised to travel on a future flight before the company began to steal customers.

The Unity 22 mission marks a key milestone in the company’s development of SpaceShipTwo as it attempts to lead a growing space tourism market for wealthy adventurers. Virgin Galactic was founded in 2004 and has already sold around 600 tickets priced at around $ 250,000 a piece, but has yet to carry any of those passengers. The company has two more test missions scheduled for this year before launching its commercial space tourism business in 2022. But like any launch, this plan depends on the outcome of Sunday’s test flight. Vehicle inspections and data review weeks after the mission will indicate how it plans to move forward, the company said.

Bezos’ Blue Origin – which has yet to announce ticket prices – and Musk’s SpaceX are also vying for a share of the space tourism market. Like Virgin’s SpaceShipTwo, Blue Origin’s crew vehicle is suborbital, though it’s a gumball-shaped capsule that launches vertically atop a 5-story rocket and climbs to an altitude of 62 miles. Blue Origin’s July 20 flight with Bezos, the company’s first to fly humans, will feature Bezos’ brother Mark, aviation legend Wally Funk and the undisclosed winner of an auction of $ 28 million for a fourth seat. SpaceX’s space tourism plans are even more involved; its Crew Dragon capsule will be launched into orbit for a few days at a price of around $ 55 million per seat.

The vibes of the competitive space industry erupted in the weeks leading up to Unity 22. Blue Origin cast a shadow over Virgin Galactic in a sarcastic tweet two days before Branson’s flight, alleging that Branson isn’t really achieving it. space because SpaceShipTwo flies a few kilometers below the space limit recognized by an international sports organization. Jeff Bezos had a more positive vibe on Saturday, wishing Branson the best of luck in an Instagram post. Musk has been cordial throughout, keeping his distance from the PR war and meeting Branson in New Mexico. “Thank you for being so generally supportive and being such a good friend, Elon,” Branson tweeted to Musk the day before his flight.

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