Virgin Galactic completes first manned suborbital flight in two years
Virgin Galactic yesterday completed its first manned suborbital flight since July 2021, carrying six employees to about fifty miles altitude for about five minutes.
Virgin Galactic’s “mothership” aircraft, VMS Eve, took off from the runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico at 11:15 a.m. Eastern. The takeoff occurred more than an hour behind a schedule provided by the company the day before, but the company did not disclose the reason for the delay.
Virgin Galactic released VSS Unity at 12:23 p.m. Eastern. The spaceplane appeared to perform a nominal burn of its hybrid rocket engine before descending to a runway landing back at Spaceport America nearly 15 minutes later. Virgin Galactic said the vehicle reached a peak altitude of 87.2 kilometers — above the 50-mile altitude used by U.S. government agencies for awarding astronaut wings, but below the 100-kilometer Kármán line — and top speed of Mach 2.94.
The company did not live stream the event, in sharp contrast to the heavy coverage it always provided when Richard Branson was in charge. It now says it soon begin regularly passenger flights.
Virgin Galactic yesterday completed its first manned suborbital flight since July 2021, carrying six employees to about fifty miles altitude for about five minutes.
Virgin Galactic’s “mothership” aircraft, VMS Eve, took off from the runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico at 11:15 a.m. Eastern. The takeoff occurred more than an hour behind a schedule provided by the company the day before, but the company did not disclose the reason for the delay.
Virgin Galactic released VSS Unity at 12:23 p.m. Eastern. The spaceplane appeared to perform a nominal burn of its hybrid rocket engine before descending to a runway landing back at Spaceport America nearly 15 minutes later. Virgin Galactic said the vehicle reached a peak altitude of 87.2 kilometers — above the 50-mile altitude used by U.S. government agencies for awarding astronaut wings, but below the 100-kilometer Kármán line — and top speed of Mach 2.94.
The company did not live stream the event, in sharp contrast to the heavy coverage it always provided when Richard Branson was in charge. It now says it soon begin regularly passenger flights.