space travel
Mother-daughter duo wins tickets – and flies into space
A mother and her daughter experienced weightlessness for a few minutes during the commercial space flight. photo
© -/Virgin Galactic/AP/dpa
A mother and her 18-year-old daughter from Antigua and Barbuda won the tickets in a benefit lottery. The company of billionaire Richard Branson went into space for a short time.
An 80-year-old participant in the Olympic Games in Munich and a Mother-daughter duo have briefly flown into space with space company Virgin Galactic.
The company of the British billionaire Richard Branson showed this in a video. The second commercial flight by Virgin Galactic reached a height of almost 90 kilometers and, after a few minutes of weightlessness for the passengers, successfully landed again at a spaceport near the small town of Truth or Consequences.
In addition to two pilots and the lead astronaut, three private individuals were on board the flight over the US state of New Mexico: Olympic canoeist Jon Goodwin, who had bought a ticket some time ago, and 46-year-old Keisha Schahaff and her 18- year-old daughter of Anastatia Mayer from the Caribbean state of Antigua and Barbuda, who won the tickets in a benefit lottery. It was Virgin Galactic’s first flight with civilian space tourists whose tickets were paid for. At the end of June, three Italian scientists took part in the company’s first commercial all-flight.
Where does space begin?
There is no binding international regulation as to where exactly space begins. The International Air Transport Association (FAI) and many other experts see 100 kilometers above the earth as the limit to space, other experts, organizations and governments see the limit as high as 80 kilometers. For comparison: The international space station ISS is about 400 kilometers high.
Branson has been working with his company towards the start of commercial flight operations for around 20 years – also with repeated setbacks. According to the company, the tickets cost around 450,000 dollars (about 400,000 euros). According to media reports, around 800 tickets for future flights have already been sold. Other companies are also offering space travel to wealthy interested parties, including Blue Origin by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and SpaceX by billionaire Elon Musk.