Space tourism company Virgin Galactic is due to launch its first commercial space flight in the United States on Thursday, with the Italian Air Force as its client, a major step for the company which comes however with years of delay. The company, founded in 2004 by billionaire Richard Branson, has already reached space five times, but so far with only members of the company as passengers.
The new mission, dubbed Galactic 01, is to take off from the base of Spaceport America, in the desert of the American state of New Mexico. A live video will be broadcast on the company’s website from 9 am (local time). Four passengers will board the ship: two senior Italian Air Force officers, an engineer from the Italian National Research Council (CNR), and a Virgin Galactic employee accompanying them. Two pilots will be at the controls.
Branson himself had made this brief space trip in July 2021, nearly two years ago. The United States Aviation Agency (FAA) then temporarily grounded the spacecraft to investigate a course deviation during this highly publicized flight. Then Virgin Galactic announced a pause in its operations, dedicated to improving its machine, which lasted much longer than expected. In May, the company finally completed its final test flight before commencing commercial operations.
About ten minutes of weightlessness
These have been expected for years and around 800 customers have already bought their ticket, for a price initially between 200,000 and 250,000 dollars per passenger, before being raised to 450,000 dollars. Virgin Galactic’s space program has been years behind schedule, notably due to an accident in 2014 that killed a pilot.
Thursday’s flight is presented as having a scientific vocation, several experiments to be carried out on board (on the behavior of liquids in weightlessness, the bodily reaction of passengers, etc.). “Virgin Galactic’s research missions will usher in a new era of repeated and reliable access to space for government and research institutions,” said company CEO Michael Colglazier. The proposed journey only offers about ten minutes in weightlessness.
A huge carrier plane takes off first from a conventional runway and then, at an altitude of about 15 km, drops the vessel which looks like a large private jet. It then turns on its engine and accelerates vertically until it exceeds 80 km in altitude, the limit of space according to the American army. Then it descends while gliding to land on the same runway. After a second mission (Galactic 02) in August, Virgin Galactic promises space flights every month.
The company competes with billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which also offers short suborbital flights and has already sent 32 people into space. But since an accident in September 2022 during an unmanned flight, its rocket has been grounded. Blue Origin promised in March to resume spaceflight “soon”.