Witness the Inaugural Flight of Virgin Galactic’s Commercial Spacecraft
Virgin Galactic’s inaugural commercial spaceflight is set to launch today, marking the end of a lengthy period of testing and setbacks. If all goes according to plan, Galactic 01 will depart from the Spaceport America facility in New Mexico after 11AM Eastern time. The event can be watched live on Virgin Galactic’s website or via the provided video stream.
The mission will carry a crew of three from the Italian Air Force and the Italian National Research Council into suborbital space aboard the VSS Unity. It is Virgin Galactic’s second SpaceShipTwo spacecraft, which first reached space in 2018. The flight will last 90 minutes, during which the crew will perform 13 scientific experiments. The particular experiment requires one of the passengers, Colonel Walter Villadei, to wear a state-of-the-art smart suit to measure his physiological responses and biometrics in space.
Virgin Galactic posted a net loss of $159.4 million for the quarter ended March 31 this year, nearly double the loss for the same period a year ago. The success of Galactic 01 will lead to more and more launches in the future, which could eventually lead to profitability. If this mission goes smoothly, the company plans to launch Galactic 02 with a private crew in early August. After that, the company plans to launch monthly suborbital flights and charge passengers $450,000 per seat.
