Virgin Galactic has successfully accomplished its first all-civilian flight this morning, carrying three civilians and three crew members to space aboard their spaceplane VSS Unity.
Taking off at 8:30 a.m. Mountain Time (15:30 UTC), the mothership, VMS Eve, with VSS Unity attached, began its journey to its drop point over Spaceport America in Recent Mexico.
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VSS Unity released from VMS Eve (Credit Virgin Galactic)
VMS Eve climbed in a looping racetrack pattern over the Spaceport to an altitude of 44,300 feet before releasing VSS Unity at 9:17 am MT. Unity then dropped for just a few seconds before igniting its rocket engine and starting its climb to the sting of space. The hybrid rocket, fueled by hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and nitrous oxide, burned for around 1 minute because it climbed to its apogee of 55 miles (88.5 km) and a top speed of Mach 3.
Shortly after the engine cut off, the crew released their harnesses and commenced floating across the cabin, taking within the views of Earth and space. The crew was in a position to float across the cabin of Unity for just a few minutes before returning to their seats and starting the trip back right down to Earth to Spaceport America.
The three civilians making their first flights today were:
- Jon Goodwin: The primary Olympian to go to space, 2nd person with Parkinson’s, Goodwin, who hails from the UK, bought his ticket in 2005.
- Keisha Schahaff: Won trip through draw benefitting Space for Humanity and selected her daughter to fly together with her, becoming the primary Mother and Daughter to go to space together.
- Anastasia Mayers: 2nd youngest person to go to space, along together with her Mother, became the primary two astronauts from Antigua and Barbuda.
The Crew:
- CJ Sturckow: Commander, former NASA astronaut, flew on the primary VSS Unity mission
- Beth Moses: Virgin Galactic Chief Astronaut Instructor, this was her fourth flight to space and
- Kelly Latimer: Pilot, first female business space pilot, first flight to space. This mission also marked essentially the most women to fly on a single mission to space.
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A view of the Earth from the tail cone of VSS Unity (Credit Virgin Galactic)
While the crew members were floating through the cabin, VSS Unity performed a back flip while the wings transitioned into its feathering position, which helps stabilize the spaceplane at high altitudes because it descends back to Earth. Once Unity is below 53,000 ft, the wings are transitioned to their glide mode, and the pilot brought the spaceplane back for a smooth landing.
For reference, international space starts on the Kármán line, which is 62 miles (100 km) above the mean Sea level, and america boundary for space is 50 miles (80 km). It also needs to be noted that the U.S. not gives astronauts wings unless the mission “demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety”.
This rule took effect in 2022.
This was the third mission for VSS Unity in only over three months, with its next flight scheduled for September.