![The Italian crew unfurled the flag of Italy inside the cabin of VSS Unity during their brief time in space. Credit: Virgin Galactic](https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ZG1_8.png)
The Italian crew unfurled the flag of Italy contained in the cabin of VSS Unity during their transient time in space. Credit: Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo has flown with paying passengers for the primary time on its inaugural industrial suborbital spaceflight.
The corporate has flown passengers before, essentially the most recent in July 2021 and May 2023 — each in VSS Unity, carried to altitude by the mothership VMS Eve aircraft. But those have been to guage passenger comfort and experience.
![Moments after being dropped from the VMS Eve mothership, VSS Unity ignites its engine to begin propelling itself toward space. Credit: Virgin Galactic](https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/G01_Livestream-Stills5-655x368.png)
Moments after being dropped from the VMS Eve mothership, VSS Unity ignites its engine to start propelling itself toward space. Credit: Virgin Galactic
This mission, often known as Galactic 01, took place at Spaceport America in Recent Mexico, situated about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of the town of Truth or Consequences. This industrial suborbital flight was a science mission for the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy.
Aboard were Col. Walter Villadei and Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi of the Italian Air Force and Pantaleone Carlucci representing the National Research Council of Italy.
With them was Virgin Galactic Astronaut Instructor Colin Bennett. He first flew aboard Unity in July 2021 throughout the first fully crewed mission. Company owner Richard Branson was also on that mission.
Manually flying Unity was Commander Mike Masucci and Pilot Nicola Pecile. This was their fourth and first flights, respectively.
For Galactic 01, the VMS Eve carrier aircraft took off at 10:30 a.m. EDT and climbed to the spacecraft’s release altitude of 44,500 feet (13,500 meters). Just before 11:30 a.m. EDT, VSS Unity was dropped. Moments later, its hybrid engine ignited to perform a one-minute burn to send the vehicle on a trajectory above the atmosphere.
![The passenger crew of Galactic 01. Credit: Virgin Galactic](https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/G01-Crew-Composite.jpg)
The passenger crew of Galactic 01. Credit: Virgin Galactic
The maximum altitude reached was 52.9 miles (85.1 kilometers), which is sufficient to qualify as a spaceflight by the USA Air Force and NASA. Nevertheless, it remains to be about 9.2 miles (14.8 kilometers) shy of the internationally recognized boundary of space at 62 miles (100 kilometers).
Through the coast period, the crew experienced several minutes of weightlessness and commenced to perform their experiments. In total, 13 research payloads were aboard in a rack on the rear of the crew cabin.
![VSS Unity with Earth in the background. The vehicle's wings can be seen in their](https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/G01_BOOM2-655x368.png)
VSS Unity with Earth within the background. The vehicle’s wings could be seen of their “feathering” positing because it begins falling back toward the planet. Credit: Virgin Galactic
But because the saying goes, time flies whenever you’re having fun.
Just because the crew was completing its experiments, the craft began its descent with its wings positioned within the upright position to ease and control itself back into the atmosphere, very like a shuttlecock in flight.
Once back within the lower atmosphere, the wings were returned to flight orientation and the ship became a glider. A couple of minutes later, the six occupants were back on the bottom having touched down on the runway at Spaceport America at 11:42 a.m. EDT.
After a post-flight evaluation, Virgin Galactic said it would begin preparing the vehicle for its next suborbital spaceflight, Galactic 02. The corporate hopes to fly it by August with monthly flights starting thereafter.
“Today, our team successfully flew six people and greater than a dozen research payloads to space in VSS Unity, our unique suborbital science lab,” said Michael Colglazier, the CEO of Virgin Galactic, in an organization statement. “This historic flight was our first industrial flight and our first dedicated industrial research mission — ushering in a brand new era of repeatable and reliable access to space for personal passengers and researchers.”