After more than a decade of development, Virgin Galactic has successfully completed its first commercial flight. The milestone achievement took place after the mothership VMS Eve launched the spaceship VSS Unity, which reached an altitude of approximately 52 miles, or the edge of space. The spacecraft then landed 15 minutes later at the company’s Spaceport America base in New Mexico, concluding the Galactic 01 research mission.
The initial client for this historic flight was the Italian government, who aimed to conduct microgravity research. The crew aboard the VSS Unity consisted of Air Force colonel Walter Villadei, Air Force lieutenant and flight surgeon Colonel Angelo Landolfi, and Pantaleone Carlucci, a research council member serving as the flight engineer and payload specialist. The spaceship was piloted by retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Masucci and Nicola Pecile, with Virgin Galactic trainer Colin Bennett also present.
Prior to this significant commercial flight, Virgin Galactic had carried out a total of five crewed spaceflights, the most recent involving four employees in late May. However, reaching this point was not without its challenges.
In 2014, Virgin Galactic faced a devastating setback when its VSS Enterprise spacecraft crashed, resulting in the death of the co-pilot and severe injuries to the pilot. The company decided to resume flight testing with the VSS Unity’s glide test in 2016. Finally, in 2018, the spaceship successfully reached space, marking a major breakthrough for Virgin Galactic.
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In 2021, the company achieved its first fully crewed spaceflight, with Unity reaching an altitude of 53.4 miles and founder Richard Branson onboard. However, different issues caused multiple delays in launching commercial service, most recently due to the necessary upgrades of the mothership VMS Eve.
From a financial standpoint, this launch was crucial for Virgin Galactic. With no paying customers until now, the company had been operating at a loss for years, with over $500 million lost in 2022 alone. Virgin Galactic offers seats at $450,000 per ticket and had set a goal of securing 1,000 reservations before the first commercial launch.
Virgin Galactic faces competition in the suborbital tourism industry, particularly from Blue Origin. Unlike Virgin Galactic’s airplane mothership approach, Blue Origin utilizes a conventional rocket for its spaceflights. Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos, also the founder of Amazon, has asserted that Virgin Galactic fails to provide a true spaceflight experience compared to Blue Origin’s system, which surpasses 62 miles in altitude, crossing the Kármán line often used as the boundary of space. However, others argue that 50 miles is the threshold for space travel.
Nevertheless, Blue Origin experienced its own challenges when one of its New Shepard rockets experienced a booster failure shortly after takeoff last year. The company had to deploy the escape system for the uncrewed capsule, which functioned as intended.
Another competitor in the industry is SpaceX, offering a distinct experience as it launches customers into true orbit with its Falcon 1 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule. In fact, SpaceX has even completed a 10-day mission to the International Space Station with a private crew, reportedly for a fee of $55 million.
Overall, Virgin Galactic’s successful completion of its first commercial flight is a significant step towards making suborbital tourism a reality. Despite the delays and challenges faced by the company, this achievement brings them closer to their goal of providing space travel experiences to paying customers. With competition from Blue Origin and SpaceX, the suborbital tourism industry is poised for exciting developments that could shape the future of commercial space travel.
