Virgin Galactic makes its first rocket-powered flight from New Mexico to the space

Published on : Monday, May 24, 2021

Virgin Galactic made its first rocket-powered flight from New Mexico to the space in a manned shuttle over the weekend. The company is aiming toward offering tourist flights to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Virgin Galactic announced that its VSS Unity shuttle accelerated to three times the speed of sound reaching an altitude of more than 55 miles above sea level before making its gliding return through the atmosphere.

British billionaire and Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson said that the flight and landing bring the 15-year-old venture quite close to commercial flights for tourists. Virgin Galactic said that those flights could commence next year.
Branson said, “Today was just an incredible step in the right direction. It tested a lot of new systems that the teams have been building and they all worked.”

Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said that at least two more yet to be finalized test flights are due — the next with four mission specialist passengers in the cabin. Pending trials also include a flight that will take Branson to the edge of space.

Colglazier said, “The flight today was elegant, beautiful. We’re going to analyze all the data that we gather on these flights. But watching from the ground and speaking with our pilots, it was magnificent. So now it’s time for us to do this again.”

Virgin Galactic is one of those few companies looking to cash in on customers with interest about the space.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is looking forward to cash in on similar potential.