Virgin Galactic to Launch Fifth Spaceflight this Month, Paving the Way for Commercial Service
Key Highlights :
Virgin Galactic is gearing up for a big month, with plans to launch its fifth spaceflight late this month in a test that aims to pave the way for the start of commercial service next month. The company announced on May 8 that it is targeting late May for Unity 25, its fifth-ever spaceflight and first since July 2021, when Virgin Group founder Richard Branson went aloft with three other passengers.
The upcoming mission will be a test, but it is expected to be the last such trial before the start of commercial service in late June. Unity 25 will carry four Virgin Galactic employees up in the space plane's cabin: Jamila Gilbert, Christopher Huie, Luke Mays and Beth Moses. Mike Masucci and C.J. Sturckow will pilot Unity.
The mission will take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico, Virgin Galactic's commercial-operations hub. Passengers aboard Unity will experience a few minutes of weightlessness and get to see Earth against the blackness of space before the vehicle comes back to Earth for a runway landing.
Virgin Galactic flies people on brief trips to suborbital space using two vehicles, a piloted space plane named VSS Unity and a carrier plane known as VMS Eve. Eve hauls Unity to an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters), then drops the space plane, which makes its own way to suborbital space. After Branson's 2021 flight, Virgin Galactic grounded VSS Unity and VMS Eve to maintain and upgrade both vehicles at the company's facilities in Mojave, California. That work included replacing Eve's pylon, the spot between the plane's twin fuselages where Unity attaches. Virgin Galactic has since been getting both revamped vehicles up to speed. The company performed a "glide flight" in Earth's atmosphere with Unity late last month.
Virgin Galactic's main competitor in the suborbital tourism industry, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, has experienced delays of its own lately. Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle hasn't flown since September 2022, when it experienced an anomaly on an uncrewed research-oriented flight.
Unity 25 is so named because it will be the 25th flight of any type (including "glide flights" in Earth's atmosphere) for the space plane. It is an exciting time for Virgin Galactic and the space tourism industry as a whole, and hopefully this mission will be a success and pave the way for commercial service.
Virgin Galactic is making history with its upcoming mission, and it is sure to be an exciting event to witness. With the success of this mission, Virgin Galactic is sure to become a leader in the space tourism industry.
