What is known about Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flight into space, scheduled for this month | innovation

Space tourism company Virgin Galactic has revealed when its commercial space flights will begin. The first mission is scheduled to take place between June 27-30, and the second in early August..

After that, the goal is for the tasks to happen every month. “Virgin Galactic’s team and vehicles are ready to take the company’s first customers into space,” the company said in a statement issued on Thursday (15).

Virgin Galactic’s first commercial mission will have science purposes. The flight is named Galactic 01, three members of the Italian Air Force and the Italian National Research Council, who will carry out microgravity research during the flight.

“With science payloads on board, the spaceflight will demonstrate the value and power of Virgin Galactic’s unique suborbital science laboratory,” the statement continued.

The company did not give details of the second commercial mission, called Galactic 02, nor say who the passengers will be on the two flights.

Branson congratulated the Virgin Galactic team and said he was excited to see the new astronauts “inspiring more people to look for the stars.”

Customers were required to make an initial $150,000 deposit and complete payment before their flight.

Before that, from 2005 to 2013, the company sold 600 “cheap” tickets – between 200,000 and 250,000 US dollars (between R$960,000 and 1.2 million).

The two flights will be suborbital, meaning they will not go beyond Earth’s atmosphere. On Branson’s flight, the plane reached an altitude of 89 kilometers, just above the 80 kilometers the US uses to mark the “beginning” of space.

Blue Origin’s flights, billionaire Jeff Bezos’ company, are suborbital, but exceed 100 kilometers above sea level, on the so-called Karman Line. This is the definition of “early” space for organizations like the International Aeronautical Federation.

In a suborbital flight, the spacecraft ascends to the maximum point and then returns to Earth. For a few moments, the passengers feel zero gravity. This type of excursion usually takes a few minutes—the mission with Branson, for example, took about 20 minutes.

Instead of a rocket, the company flies its missions with an airplane: It’s a SpaceShip Two prototype, which VSS Unity shot on the mission with Branson. It is somewhat carried by the “aircraft carrier” VMS Eve. Then, the aircraft’s engines are started and it detaches to complete the flight on its own.

In Branson’s flight, the plane crashed at an altitude of 15 kilometers and then completed its journey to the very edge of the atmosphere.