MIAMI – The space tourism company Virgin Galactic, owned by billionaire Richard Branson, made its first commercial flight on Thursday, after successfully completing a 90-minute journey during which it reached the border between Earth’s atmosphere and space.
The flight departed at around 10:30 a.m. local time from Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic’s base in southern New Mexico, and an hour later VSS Unity separated from its mother ship, VMS Eve, to continue on its own. the rest of the way and while it was about eight miles high.
VSS Unity then ignited its engines for about 60 seconds, allowing it to propel itself to its maximum height of its journey, about 55 miles, and thus reach the edges of suborbital space.
The ship was commanded by Mike Masucci, who made his fourth space flight with this mission, and was piloted by former Italian Air Force member Nicole Pecile, who now works for Virgin Galactic and today completed his first space flight.
On board the VSS Unity were former astronaut Colin Bennett and fellow Italians Walter Villadei and Angelo Landolfi, from the Italian Air Force, as well as engineer Pantaleone Carlucci, from the Italian National Research Council, who were in charge of carrying out 13 experiments. in the microgravity environment.
The Italian flight is the result of a contract signed in 2019 between Virgin Galactic and the government of that country.
In the mission, called Galactic01, Kelly Latimer and Jameel Janjua, commander and pilot, respectively, of VMS Eve also participated.
According to specialized media, the tickets to fly on Unity can amount to about $450,000.
