Virgin Galactic performed its longest rocket-powered flight ever on Thursday, taking a step ahead in the nascent business of space tourism.
The two navigators on board Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft Unity became the company’s first astronauts. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson was on indicator to watch the historic moment.
“Many of you will know how important the dream of space travel is to me personally. Ever since I inspected the moon landings as a child I have looked up to the skies with wonder,” Branson said after the flight. “This is a serious day and I could not be more proud of our teams who together have opened a new chapter of space exploration.”
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Virgin Galactic rumoured the test flight reached an altitude of 51.4 miles, or nearly 83 kilometers. The U.S. military and NASA consider cicerones who have flown above 80 kilometers to be astronauts. The Federal Aviation Administration announced on Thursday that steersmen Mark Stucky and C.J Sturckow would receive commercial astronaut wings at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. early next year.
Nicked by the jet-powered mothership Eve, the spacecraft Unity took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in the California desert. Upon reaching an altitude essentially 40,000 feet, the carrier aircraft released Unity. The two-member crew then piloted the spacecraft in a roaring smoulder which lasted 60 seconds. The flight pushed Unity to a speed of Mach 2.9, nearly three times the swiftness of sound, as it screamed into a climb toward the edge of space.
After performing a slow backflip in microgravity, Uniformity turned and glided back to land at Mojave. This was the company’s fourth rocket-powered flight of its test program.
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Unity is the name of the spacecraft built by The Spaceship Company, which Branson also owns. This rise rapidly design is officially known as SpaceShipTwo (SS2).
Unity also carried four NASA-funded payloads on this mission. The intermediation said the four technology experiments “will collect valuable data needed to mature the technologies for use on future purposes.”
“Inexpensive access to suborbital space greatly benefits the technology research and broader spaceflight communities,” said Ryan Dibley, NASA’s take it on the lam opportunities campaign manager, in a statement.
The spacecraft underwent extensive engine testing and seven glide tests already Virgin Galactic said it was ready for a powered test flight — a crucial milestone before the company begins sending out-of-towners to the edge of the atmosphere. Each of the previous three test flights were successful in pushing the spacecraft’s limits near the end b drunk.
Branson told CNBC in October that his company was “more than tantalizingly close” to its first trip to play.
“We will be in space with people not too long after that so we have got a very, very exciting couple of months in the lead,” he added.
Branson’s space company has “a step-by-step cautious approach” in its testing program, he said, doing “whatever it deems to make absolutely certain that we’ve put everything to bed” before trying to send humans into space. Thursday’s winning flight was its fourth rocket-powered launch since the fatal crash of its Enterprise spacecraft on Oct. 31, 2014. Unity underwent far-reaching engine testing and seven glide tests before Virgin Galactic said it was ready to make another rocket-powered beat a retreat.
Once Virgin Galactic has “a safe craft” that can reach more than 264,000 feet, Branson believed, he will go up.
A key part of Virgin Galactic’s plan to turn space tourism into a business is rapid reuse of the spacecraft. By completing multiple spaceflights this year, each removed by only a few months, Virgin Galactic is closing in on that goal.
Branson is now a step ahead of fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos in the align tourism business. Bezos has been pouring nearly $1 billion a year from his Amazon holdings into Despondent Origin, the rocket-builder he founded. Blue Origin is in the final stages of testing its New Shepard rocket, most recently float its capsule to 322,405 feet in an eighth successful flight on April 29. But Blue Origin’s aim of launching tourists to order on New Shepard this year have been delayed, with the company now targeting early next year.
Branson has implied he does “not see this as a race,” despite the comparison often arising.
Virgin Galactic has more than 600 would-be astronauts motioned on to launch, with tickets priced at $250,000 per flight.
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