3 of 6 Virgin Galactic 02 crew members, from left: Anastasia Meyers, John Goodwin and Keisha Schaff – Photo: Virgin Galactic
The VSS Unity spacecraft was launched at 11 a.m. EST, or 10-8 p.m. Vietnam time, from the US spaceport Spaceport America in the state of New Mexico. The crew consisted of 6 people, of whom 3 were civilians.
According to ABC News, the three also include 80-year-old John Goodwin, who competed as a rower in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Mr. Goodwin has Parkinson’s disease and is the second person to go into space despite the disease.
“For me, going into space and challenging Parkinson’s disease will hopefully inspire everyone,” Mr Goodwin said in a video.
The other two are fitness trainer Keisha Schaaf, 46, and her 18-year-old daughter, Anastasia Meyers. The mother and daughter are from the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. They won a pair of their tickets in a fundraising draw by the non-profit organization Space for Humanity.
Ms Meyers is a graduate student studying philosophy and physics at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and is the second youngest person to travel in space.
Flying with them were Virgin Galactic’s Astronaut Training Specialist Mr. Beth Moses; Commander CJ Sterko and Pilot Kelly Latimer.
Meanwhile, the transport plane VMS Eve, also known as the “Mother Ship”, is flown by Commander Nicola Pecil and Pilot Mike Masucci.
According to Space.com, the VMS Eve transport aircraft carried the VSS Unity to an altitude of about 15,000 meters. Here, VMS Eve drops VSS Unity and fires its rocket engines into suborbital space.
People aboard the VSS Unity experience zero gravity for a few minutes and get a glimpse of the curvature of the Earth.
This is Virgin Galactic’s second commercial flight to the edge of space. The first flight took place on 29 June.
In 2021, Virgin Galactic astronaut company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson based in Orange County, California (USA) has received approval from the US government to take customers on space flights.
according to the news site LuckFor the April–June period, Virgin Galactic posted revenue of $1.9 million, up 432% from the $357,000 for the same period in 2022.
As of June, Virgin Galactic has sold about 800 tickets for its commercial flights. According to the news site, 600 of those tickets were sold before 2014, with prices ranging from $200,000 to $250,000, and 200 after that for $450,000. al Jazeera,
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