Virgin Galactic successfully launches first commercial space flight from New Mexico

Virgin Galactic on Thursday successfully completed its first commercial suborbital flight, which had been in development for almost two decades, in a major breakthrough for space travel. 

“This historic mission is Virgin Galactic’s first commercial spaceflight and represents a new era in government-funded commercial human-tended research missions,” the company said in a statement.

On June 29 at around 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, Virgin Galactic launched its VMS Eve mothership from a launchpad in southern New Mexico. About an hour later, the company’s SpaceShip Two vehicle VSS Unity separated from the main aircraft, carrying three specialists from Italy into outer space. 

The Galactic 01 mission’s 90-minute flight reached a peak altitude of 85.1 kilometers above the Earth traveling at around three times the speed of sound. The crew experienced about 5 minutes of weightlessness before landing at a spaceport at around 11:43 a.m. 

“It was excellent,” Mike Moses, president of spaceline missions and safety at Virgin Galactic, said in an interview after the flight. “Everything was right down the middle.”

The galactic 01 mission was a research flight for the Italian Air Force and Italy’s National Research Council, which signed a contract for the flight in October 2019. The flight carried Col. Walter Villadei and Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi of the Italian Air Force and Pantaleone Carlucci of Italy’s National Research Council. 

The three men planned to conduct 13 experiments throughout the mission, including studies on microgravity, biomedical data collection, and cognitive data. 

"Incredible experience, from the takeoff to the landing," said Pantaleone Carlucci, representing Italy's National Research Council. "The acceleration, the climb, and then suddenly, the microgravity. ... I had the opportunity to look outside, and the view was amazing. Fantastic! I'm speechless."

The Italian crew was joined by a Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor and the spacecraft’s pilots. 

The success of the mission represents a major breakthrough for commercial travel. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism company plans to launch a space flight every month beginning in August for those who are willing to pay $450,000 a ticket, the company said.