At the highest altitude, the crew is in zero gravity for several minutes. In total, the spacecraft’s flight lasted about an hour.
The manned spacecraft SpaceShipTwo (VSS Unity) on Thursday, June 29, made a successful first commercial suborbital flight. It was announced by the space company Virgin Galactic, British billionaire Richard Branson. The broadcast is on YouTube.
The launch was carried out from the board of the WhiteKnightTwo twin-body carrier aircraft, which took off from America’s spaceport in New Mexico.
The spacecraft was undocked from the carrier at an altitude of 15 km, then it rose to an altitude of 85 km.
The spacecraft was carrying a crew of six – two Americans and four Italians.
The scientific mission, called Virtute 1, was carried out under the auspices of the Air Force and the Italian National Research Council. In its course, in particular, a study was made on the influence of microgravity on the human body.
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The ship was commanded by retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mike Massucci, making his fourth space flight, and piloted by former Italian Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Nicola Pechili. The crew also included Italian Air Force Colonel Walter Villadei, who previously trained at NASA to fly on the ISS as a reserve pilot, Italian doctor Angelo Landolfi, engineer Pantaleoni Carlucci, and Virgin Galactic lead astronaut instructor Colin Bennett.
happy return to earth, #Galactic01! Our pilots, crew and spaceship have safely landed on @Spaceport_NM. pic.twitter.com/f8YQowQN2x
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) June 29, 2023
At the highest altitude, the crew is in zero gravity for several minutes. In total, the spacecraft’s flight lasted about an hour.
Virgin Galactic is planning its next commercial suborbital flight in August.
Recall that on April 9, 2022, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX sent the first commercial crew to the ISS. On May 21, 2023, the company organized a second private mission to the orbital outpost.
Source: korrespondent
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