11.09.2023
Virgin Galactic notches fourth spaceflight in four months
Virgin Galactic on Friday announced it had sent three paying customers on an hour-long journey to space and back, racking up its fourth successful flight in as many months.
The private astronauts aboard the Galactic 03 mission were among the first people to buy their tickets from the company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson in 2004.
American real estate entrepreneur Ken Baxter, South Africa-born conservationist Timothy Nash, and British engineer and entrepreneur Adrian Reynard took their places aboard the rocket-powered spaceplane VSS Unity, along with Virgin Galactic's astronaut instructor Beth Moses.
"What a thrilling day for our three new private astronauts and the entire team at Virgin Galactic," said CEO Michael Colglazier.
The spaceflights involve a giant, twin-fuselage carrier aircraft with two pilots that takes off from a runway at Spaceport in New Mexico.
This mothership, called VSS Eve, gains a high altitude then drops the spaceplane attached below it, which in turn engages its thrusters to soar into space at speeds approaching Mach-3.
Passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness, where they are free to perform somersaults and gaze out the window at the curvature of the Earth.
The company's first private mission in June involved members of the Italian Air Force, and was followed in August by the launch of its first tourists, including a mother-daughter pair who won their spots in through a sweepstakes competition for charity.
Friday's flight launched at 8:34 am Mountain Time (1434 GMT) and landed at 9:36 am (1536 GMT), with VSS Unity achieving a maximum altitude of 55 miles (89 kilometers).
In a notable first, Nash brought with him two fossils of human ancestors to space, "the clavicle (collar bone) of the almost 2-million-year-old Australopithecus sediba and a thumb bone of Homo naledi, dated to about 250,000 years ago," according to Virgin Galactic's website.
Both were discovered in the Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Johannesburg in South Africa.
Virgin Galactic competes in the "suborbital" space tourism sector with billionaire Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin, which has already sent 31 people into space using a vertical lift-off rocket.
But since an accident in September 2022 during an unmanned flight, Blue Origin's rocket has been grounded. The company promised in March to resume spaceflight soon.
Virgin Galactic meanwhile plans to press ahead with monthly commercial spaceflights. It has sold around 800 tickets -- 600 between 2005 and 2014 for $200,000 to $250,000, and 200 since then for $450,000 each.
Quelle: SD
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‘GALACTIC 04’ MISSION MARKS VIRGIN GALACTIC’S FIFTH SPACEFLIGHT IN FIVE MONTHS
Flight Window Opens October 5, 2023
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“the Company” or “Virgin Galactic”) today announced the ‘Galactic 04’ flight window will open October 5, 2023. This would be the Company’s fifth spaceflight this year and ninth spaceflight to date, further demonstrating Virgin Galactic’s ability to deliver safe, repeatable spaceflight and a transformative customer experience.
The three private astronauts aboard ‘Galactic 04’ bring different backgrounds and cultures to the mission, along with a shared passion for space, exploration and adventure:
- Astronaut 017 - From the United States
- Astronaut 018 - From the United Kingdom
- Astronaut 019 - From Pakistan, marking first person to fly to space from this country
The Virgin Galactic crew includes:
- VSS Unity Commander Kelly Latimer and Pilot CJ Sturckow
- VMS Eve Commander Nicola Pecile and Pilot Jameel Janjua
- Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses
Stay tuned to Virgin Galactic’s social channels for further updates.
Quelle: Virgin Galactic
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Update: 22.09.2023
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Virgin Galactic's next flight will take a Pakistani to space for the 1st time
Namira Salim will make history Oct. 5 on the 'Galactic 04' mission.
The view from Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity space plane during its Galactic 02 spaceflight on Aug. 10, 2023. (Image credit: Virgin Galactic)
Namira Salim will make spaceflight history next month.
The adventurer will become the first Pakistani to reach space on Virgin Galactic's next mission, called "Galactic 04," which is scheduled to launch from New Mexico's Spaceport America on Oct. 5.
"Thrilled to take to the #stars with @trevorbmbagency and @ronrosano aboard #Galactic04 with @virgingalactic. Inspiring #girls #women and #youth globally to reach for the stars," Salim posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Sunday (Sept. 17).
Galactic 04 will carry three customers to suborbital space and back. Salim shouted out the other two in her post — British advertising executive Trevor Beattie and American astronomy educator Ron Rosano.
Joining these space tourists in the cabin of Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity space plane will be Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic's chief astronaut instructor. Kelly Latimer and C.J. Sturckow will fly the VSS Unity space plane on Galactic 04, and Nicola Pecile and Jameel Janjua will be at the controls of VMS Eve, the carrier plane that hauls Unity off the ground. (Eve drops Unity at an altitude of about 45,000 feet, or 13,700 meters; the space plane then lights up its rocket motor to get to suborbital space.)
As its name suggests, Galactic 04 will be Virgin's fourth commercial spaceflight. The previous three have all launched recently — in June, August and September, respectively.
Salim, the founder and chairperson of the nonprofit Space Trust, is a longtime adventurer. According to her website, she's the first Pakistani to visit both the North Pole (in April 2007) and the South Pole (in January 2008).
She was one of the first 100 people to buy a ticket with Virgin Galactic, having booked her ride in 2006. Back then, the price was $200,000; it has since risen to $450,000.
Quelle: SC
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Update: 2.10.2023
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Pakistan’s first female astronaut Namira Salim arrives in US for space travel
Pakistan’s first female astronaut, Namira Salim, has reached the United States for her space journey from the Virgin Galactic commercial space liner.
Namira Salim — who had hoisted Pakistan’s flag at the North Pole in 2007 — will begin her celestial expedition on October 5. Ms Salim arrived in Dallas, Texas from Karachi.
On this occasion, she said, “I am very grateful that my country has supported me a lot. I will take the flag of Pakistan into space with great pride.”
Dubai-based lady is first Pakistani astronaut who hoisted the Pakistani flag at the North Pole in 2007 and South Pole in 2008.
At the end of June this year, Virgin Galactic succeeded in taking the first commercial flight to space but this flight carried experts from Italy instead of ordinary tourists.
In August and September, the company launched the first space flight for tourists into space
This time Ms Salim will be part of the mission and she will have her seat in the cabin of the company’s VSS Unity spacecraft. She is also among 100 people who purchased tickets of this American company for the space tourism. She had bought the ticket for this trip in 2006 and now she is getting a chance to visit space.
Quelle: ARY NEWS
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Update: 8.10.2023
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Virgin Galactic performs fourth commercial suborbital flight
Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity lands at Spaceport America Oct. 6 at the end of the Galactic 04 mission. Credit: Spaceport America
WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic continued its monthly cadence of commercial suborbital spaceflights Oct. 6, carrying three customers that included the first person from Pakistan to go to space.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity, took off from Spaceport America attached to its VMS Eve mothership at 11:28 a.m. Eastern. VSS Unity released from the plane at 12:10 p.m. Eastern, flying to an apogee of 87.5 kilometers before gliding back to a runway landing at the spaceport.
As with the previous flight, Galactic 03 on Sept. 8, Virgin Galactic did not provide a live broadcast, limiting itself to social media updates. Those updates themselves were published on a time delay: one post announcing ignition of the vehicle’s hybrid rocket motor was published at least 12 minutes after ignition, based on the timestamps in the images included with the post.
On board VSS Unity were three customers: Ron Rosano, Treavor Beattie and Namira Salim. The company did not release the customers’ names in advance of the flight, but all three disclosed their participation in the days leading up to the flight.
Rosano is an American who is involved in space education and also works for a property management company. Beattie is a British advertising executive and film producer who, according to a Virgin Galactic biography, accompanied company founder Richard Branson to a SpaceShipOne flight in 2004 and signed up for a Virgin Galactic flight “on the spot.” Salim, an adventurer and entrepreneur, is the first person from Pakistan to go to space, although she now lives in Monaco and Dubai.
VSS Unity was commanded by Kelly Latimer and piloted by CJ Sturckow. Beth Moses, the company’s chief astronaut instructor, also flew in the cabin with the customers, as on Virgin’s previous commercial flights.
The flight was the fourth for VSS Unity since the company started commercial service in late June. The company said it planned to maintain a monthly flight cadence for the foreseeable future, slowly working through its backlog of about 800 customers, some of whom paid deposits for their tickets more than 15 years ago.
“Our teams in New Mexico and California have delivered on our monthly spaceflight objectives,” Michael Colglazier, chief executive of Virgin Galactic, said in a statement after the flight. That statement added the company would turn VSS Unity around for its next flight, Galactic 05, but did not disclose a projected date for it.
Quelle: SC