Sir Richard Branson (almost) flies into space on VSS Unity
Sir Richard Branson (far right) and the team that flew on VSS Unity
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
British billionaire Sir Richard Branson almost, but not quite, flew into space today as a passenger aboard the privately built and operated Virgin Galactic spaceplane, VSS Unity, which took off from Spaceport America, New Mexico at about 10:30 am EDT.
Today s flight marks a major milestone in Virgin Galactic s 15-year struggle to establish a regular service to carry paying passengers and payloads into space. With pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci at the controls of VSS Unity, the rest of the complement consisted of Sir Richard, and mission specialists Beth Moses, Chief Astronaut Instructor; Colin Bennett, Lead Operations Engineer; and Sirisha Bandla, Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations.
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Credit Virgin Galactic
The much-awaited Virgin Galactic test flight is scheduled for 7 a.m., pending weather and technical checks. The “Unity 22” mission will be the twenty -second flight test for VSS Unity and the Company’s fourth crewed spaceflight. It will also be the first to carry a full crew of two pilots and four mission specialists in the cabin, including the Company’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, who will be testing the private astronaut experience.
Building on the success of the Company’s most recent spaceflight in May, Unity 22 will focus on cabin and customer experience objectives, including:
Evaluating the commercial customer cabin with a full crew, including the cabin environment, seat comfort, the weightless experience, and the views of Earth that the spaceship delivers