Virgin Galactic on Saturday successfully completed its last spaceflight before heading into a two-year pause on commercial operations to upgrade its fleet, as the space tourism company seeks to finally turn a profit.
Virgin Galactic on Saturday successfully completed its last spaceflight before heading into a two-year pause on commercial operations to upgrade its fleet, as the space tourism company seeks to finally turn a profit.
« Galactic07 is back on terra firma, now as astronauts! » the company said on X, formerly Twitter, referring to a team of two pilots and two passengers. « Our pilots, crew and spaceship have landed safely at Spaceport America, New Mexico. »
A huge carrier plane took off from the runway at 8:31 am Mountain Time and climbed to an altitude of some 44,500 feet (13,500 meters) over approximately 50 minutes.
After that, it released from under its wings a spaceplane that soared at supersonic speed to the edge of space, where the passengers were able to enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness and admire the Earth’s curve.
It landed on the same runway at 9:41 am, having accelerated to Mach 2.96, almost three times the speed of sound.
One of the private was Tuva Atasever, a Turkish space agency astronaut whose seat was contracted through another space company, Axiom, while the names of the other three were revealed only after landing.
