Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson’s space tourism company, is expected to launch its first commercial spaceflight — which has an admission price of $450,000 — later this month, the company announced.
The company will launch its debut mission, “Galactic 01”, between June 27 and 30, depending on weather conditions. A second release, “Galactic 02”, is also scheduled for August.
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Passengers will be sent an astonishing 300,000 feet above the Earth’s surface via a transporter plane, dubbed the VMS Eve. Once in space, passengers can unbuckle and experience weightlessness for several minutes and enjoy incredible views of Earth from one of the spacecraft’s 17 windows.
The spacecraft will then glide back down to the planet for a runway landing without power. These missions will launch from Spaceport America in New Mexico – Virgin Galactic’s commercial hub. The once-in-a-lifetime trip costs $450,000, with an initial deposit of $150,000 and a final deposit of $300,000.
There are already several hundred customers who have reserved a seat. All passengers must complete a medical questionnaire and take last-minute checkups before launch, the company said.
In its brochure for the flight, Virgin Galactic said passengers also have the option to undergo weeks of training, which includes “weightlessness preparation, G-Force readiness, emergency procedures, sensory saturation and more.” .
Unity has flown five test missions so far, including its final launch in May. The Virgin mission comes nearly two years after Branson bested fellow billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his rocket company Blue Origin in their space race.
Virgin Galactic has been working for more than a decade to send paying passengers on short space jumps, and in 2021, it finally got federal government approval.
The company said it plans to launch 400 flights a year from Spaceport America once it finishes building its next class of rocket-powered planes at a facility in neighboring Arizona.
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