Virgin Galactic Launches First Tourist Flight To Space

Virgin Galactic Launches First Tourist Flight To Space

Handout photo shows VSS Unity takes-off from spaceport America, New Mexico for the Galactic 02 mission. Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, finally launched its first space tourists to the edge of the cosmos, a major step toward delivering on decades of promises. The company’s rocket-powered space plane, VSS Unity, took off at 8:30 a.m. MT from a New Mexico spaceport attached to a massive twin-fuselage mothership on August 10, 2023. It carried three customers: entrepreneur and health and wellness coach Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastatia Mayers, the first space travelers from Antigua who won their seats in a fundraiser drawing, as well as former Olympian Jon Goodwin, who competed as a canoeist in the 1972 Munich Summer Games. Goodwin became the second person with Parkinson’s disease to travel to space. Photo by Virgin Galactic via ABACAPRESS.COM

Newly completed spaceport in New Mexico

Newly completed spaceport in New Mexico

LAS CRUCES, United States - Photo shows the dedication ceremony of a newly completed spaceport for space tourism, named Spaceport America and operated by Virgin Galactic and other entities, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Oct. 17, 2011. Over 800 people, including future space tourists, attended the ceremony.

Newly completed spaceport in New Mexico

Newly completed spaceport in New Mexico

LAS CRUCES, United States - An airplane carrying a spaceship soars through the sky over a newly completed spaceport for space tourism, named Spaceport America, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in a simulated flight on Oct. 17, 2011. Over 800 people, including future space tourists, attended the dedication ceremony of the facility operated by Virgin Galactic and other entities the same day. The price of a space trip has been set at around $200,000 per person.

Newly completed spaceport in New Mexico

Newly completed spaceport in New Mexico

LAS CRUCES, United States - An airplane carrying a spaceship soars through the sky over a newly completed spaceport for space tourism, named Spaceport America, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in a simulated flight on Oct. 17, 2011. Over 800 people, including future space tourists, attended the dedication ceremony of the facility operated by Virgin Galactic and other entities the same day. The price of a space trip has been set at around $200,000 per person. (Kyodo)

Newly completed spaceport in New Mexico

Newly completed spaceport in New Mexico

LAS CRUCES, United States - Photo shows the dedication ceremony of a newly completed spaceport for space tourism, named Spaceport America and operated by Virgin Galactic and other entities, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Oct. 17, 2011. Over 800 people, including future space tourists, attended the ceremony. (Kyodo)