Virgin Galactic blasts into commercial service with first space passenger paying flight

0 0

By Matthew Griffin Space 20th July 2023

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

The cost of accessing space is falling by multiples, and that means space tourism is getting cheaper and more realistic.

Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog.

After years of setbacks, Virgin Galactic has completed its first commercial flight that saw it carry 13 research payloads and three passengers from the Italian Air Force and National Research Council of Italy to the edge of space.

Maglev Aero unveils its ultra quiet revolutionary eVTOL propulsion system

With Commander Michael Masucci and Pilot Nicola Pecile at the controls of the spaceplane VSS Unity, along with passengers Walter Villadei, Pantaleone Carlucci, Angelo Landolfi, and astronaut instructor Colin Bennett, the Galactic 01 mission took off at 8:30 am Mountain Time from Spaceport America Runway 34 in New Mexico slung beneath the mothership VSS Eve. Released at an altitude of 44,500 ft (13,500 m), the craft fired its hybrid rocket engine that blasted it to an altitude of 52.9 miles (85.1 km) and a maximum velocity of Mach 2.88.

During the period of zero gravity as the spaceplane lingered on the edge of space before descending back to earth, the passengers carried out a series of autonomous and non-autonomous experiments, including the effects of weightlessness on cognitive performance and on how materials mix, as well as monitoring human body functions using special sensors.

If satellites can withstand 10,000G then Spintronics can fling them into space

As the VSS Unity descended, it deployed its tail booms to help slow its speed to subsonic until the air pressure was great enough for the controls to respond again. Landing was at 9:42 am.

We have blast off!

According to the company, the flight will be followed in August by Galactic 02, with monthly flights for paying civilian passengers, including space tourists, coming afterwards.

Self assembling tiles that make any kind of space structures ace first orbital tests

“Today, our team successfully flew six people and more than a dozen research payloads to space in VSS Unity, our unique, suborbital science lab;” said Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic. “This historic flight was our first commercial flight and our first dedicated commercial research mission – ushering in a new era of repeatable and reliable access to space for private passengers and researchers. ‘Galactic 02,’ our first spaceflight with private astronauts, is planned for August and we expect VSS Unity to continue with monthly space missions while we simultaneously work to scale our future spaceship fleet for a global audience.”

Source: Virgin Galactic

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.