the aeronautical company galactic virginfounded by British billionaire Richard Branson, has just successfully complete your first space flight. This is the first trip that the company has made beyond the threshold of the earth’s atmosphere. After the success of this mission, the company affirms that it is preparing to carry out at least a monthly trip to space for anyone who wants (and can) afford this adventure. The initiative, according to the promoters of this program, will open the doors to space tourism.
Welcome back to Earth, #galactic01! Our pilots, crew and spacecraft have landed safely in @NM_spaceport. pic.twitter.com/f8YQowQN2x
— Virgin Galactica (@virgingalactic) June 29, 2023
It is not the first nor surely the last time that a mission like this is carried out and that, at least on paper, the possibility of creating extraterrestrial tourism routes is raised. In mid-2021, for example, the American tycoon Jeff Bezos launched a similar initiative through his company Blue Origin. In July of that year, the company repaired ‘jump into space’ in a 10 minute 10 second flight during which, as the same rocket appeared, microgravity conditions typical of space were reached for a total of 3 minutes. Both in that case and today, the most striking thing about these flights is that are led by private companies and that, in the future, they could be available to citizens (who can afford it).
mission objective
Virgin Galactic’s first mission has taken off around 17.30 (Spanish peninsular time) and has landed about fifteen minutes later. She has taken off and landed at a private spaceport located in New Mexico. This inaugural flight has been carried out by four crew members: three members of the Italian National Research Council and the Italian Air Force (Walter Villadei, Pantaleone Carlucci and Angelo Landolfi) and, in addition, a professional pilot who will lead the mission (Collin Bennet). His goal was carry out a total of 13 experiments in microgravity conditions to study, among other things, how the human body reacts to this type of environment and, in addition, the resistance of new generation materials.
Related news
Following the success of this first mission, Virgin Galactic claims that will launch several private space flights. The first, known as ‘Galactic 02′, looks set to take off in early August. From there, a monthly launch is expected for anyone who wants to travel to space for a few minutes. Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, has also launched several private space flights, albeit less frequently. There are also other private companies that offer similar experiences to travel to space or expose yourself to microgravity conditions (at least for a few seconds).
Hello, let’s go home! VSS Unity is now on its way home to Spaceport America, New Mexico. #galactic01 pic.twitter.com/szlrYK1YA8
— Virgin Galactica (@virgingalactic) June 29, 2023
According to several sources, the tickets for future Virgin Galactic expeditions It could sell for about 450,000 dollars per person. This price includes the costs of the ‘training’ of astronauts as well as different procedures. The newspaper ‘The Sun’ states that all applicants will have to pay $10,000 just to process their application and that, finally, it will be up to the company to decide whether to accept their candidacy.