All articles tagged with #suborbital space
Blue Origin is set to launch its first mission in over 15 months with its New Shepard suborbital vehicle, following a previous failure in September 2022. The uncrewed mission, known as NS-24, will carry 33 research payloads, including those developed with support from NASA, as well as 38,000 postcards for Club for the Future. The launch can be watched live via Blue Origin's feed or on Space.com.
Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity space plane will be grounded until January 2024 and will fly just once or twice more before being permanently grounded in mid-2024. This move is to free up resources for the development of the next-generation suborbital vehicle, the Delta class. The Delta craft will have a higher flight cadence and revenue generation potential compared to Unity. Virgin Galactic aims to begin flight tests of the first Delta spacecraft in 2025 and bring it into service in 2026. The company also announced layoffs of about 18% of its workforce to decrease costs and strategically realign resources.
Virgin Galactic has postponed its next space tourism mission, Galactic 04, by one day to October 6th, to allow for additional vehicle preparation and checks. The mission will send three paying customers, including the first Pakistani to reach space, on Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity space plane. The company plans to increase the frequency of flights with the introduction of their new "Delta class" of space planes in 2026.
Virgin Galactic has announced the crew for its second commercial spaceflight, Galactic-02, which is scheduled to fly a three-person crew, an astronaut instructor, and two company pilots to suborbital space. The crew includes Jon Goodwin, an 80-year-old former British Olympian with Parkinson's disease, who will become the second person with Parkinson's to fly to space. Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastatia Mayers will be the first people from the Caribbean islands to fly to space. The mission aims to increase space accessibility and diversity. The launch will be livestreamed on Virgin Galactic's website, and the company plans to have a monthly cadence of launches moving forward.
Virgin Galactic successfully took its first paying customers to the edge of space after almost 20 years since its founding. The VSS Unity rocket plane carried three Italian passengers who conducted experiments during the 72-minute suborbital journey. This marks the first time any of the approximately 800 people who have purchased tickets have made the trip. Virgin plans to start monthly passenger flights in August, but it would take nearly 17 years to clear the backlog at that rate. The company aims to bring a new series of rocket planes into service by 2026 to increase the frequency to one journey per week.
Virgin Galactic successfully completed its first-ever commercial mission, sending four passengers to suborbital space and back. The flight, which took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico, reached an altitude of 52.9 miles before returning to Earth. This milestone marks a significant achievement for Virgin Galactic, which aims to offer commercial space travel to paying customers in the near future.
Virgin Galactic is set to launch its first fully commercial flight of the SpaceShipTwo space plane, carrying four passengers and 13 experiments. The mission aims to collect medical and cosmic radiation data, study fluid dynamics, and demonstrate the microgravity research capabilities of SpaceShipTwo. The success of this flight is crucial for Virgin Galactic's future plans, including monthly spaceflights and private astronaut services. The company is seeking to raise funds to develop and expand its spacecraft fleet. The flight takes place amidst recent safety concerns in the private spaceflight industry.
Virgin Galactic is set to launch its Unity 25 crew into space later this month, marking the company's fifth spaceflight and the "final assessment" before its first commercial flight in June. The spaceplane VSS Unity will carry four Virgin Galactic employees to the edge of space, allowing passengers to experience a few moments of weightlessness. Virgin Galactic charges $450,000 for a seat on its spaceplane and competes with Blue Origin.