Virgin Galactic sends tourists to the frontier of space for the first time - VSS Unity climbed to an altitude of 80km

Virgin Galactic has successfully completed the Galactic 02 mission, which launched from Spaceport America in New Mexico. On 10 August 2023, the company sent tourists to the frontier of space.

Here's What We Know

The Galactic 02 mission was the company's second commercial suborbital launch It was coincidentally the first tourist flight into space. It was also Virgin Galactic's seventh spaceflight and third since May this year.

The pilots on this mission were Kelly Latimer and C.J. Sturckow, and the tourists were Jon Goodwin, Anastatia Mayers and Keisha Schahaff. With them on board the spacecraft was Beth Moses, a Virgin instructor and former NASA astronaut.

A few interesting nuances are also worth noting. Firstly, former Olympian John Goodwin is now 80 years old. Secondly, Keisha Shahaf and Anastasia Myers are mother and daughter who won tickets in a lottery held by Virgin Galactic.

The WhiteKnightTwo aircraft climbed to an altitude of 15 kilometres. After that, the VSS Unity spacecraft flew on its own to an altitude of 80 kilometres, where, according to the American classification, the boundary of space is. Tourists were in weightlessness for several minutes.

Source: BBC