House tourism one step nearer with Virgin Galactic check

SANTA FE, NM – Virgin Galactic flew a manned shuttle from New Mexico to the edge of space over the weekend to offer tourist flights to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere.

High above the desert in a cloudless sky, the VSS Unity lit its rocket to hurl the ship and two pilots toward space. A live feed from NASASpaceFlight.com showed the ship accelerating upward and confirmed a landing via radar later Saturday night.

Virgin Galactic announced that its VSS Unity shuttle has accelerated to three times the speed of sound and reached an altitude of just over 55 miles above sea level before sliding back through the atmosphere.

British billionaire and founder of Virgin Galactic, Sir Richard Branson, said the flight and landing are enticing ways for the 15-year-old company to get involved in commercial flights for tourists. Virgin Galactic says these flights could begin next year.

“Today was just an incredible step in the right direction,” said Branson shortly after landing. “Lots of new systems the teams built were tested and they all worked.”

Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said there are at least two more undated test flights ahead of us – the next with four mission specialists in the cabin. One of the upcoming attempts is a flight that will bring Branson to the edge of space.

“Today’s flight was elegant, beautiful,” said Colglazier. “We will analyze all the data we collect on these flights. But watching from the ground and talking to our pilots was great. Now it is time for us to do this again. “

While Virgin Galactic’s share price was up this week before the test flight, it wasn’t enough to overcome losses since peaking in February. Some analysts have suggested that it could take the company a while to see profits as the exact start of business operations is still in the air.

Virgin Galactic is one of the few companies looking to attract customers interested in space travel.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch a billionaire and his giveaway winners in September. A flight of three business people to the International Space Station is scheduled to follow in January.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launched a new capsule in January as part of testing to kick off its program for tourists, scientists, and professional astronauts. The start of the first flight with a crew on July 20, the date of the Apollo 11 moon landing, is planned.