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Virgin Galactic: The Most-Anticipated 1st Space Flight With Private Tourists Finally Takes Off

by Shreya Ghosh
Virgin Galactic: The Most-Anticipated 1st Space Flight With Private Tourists Finally Takes Off

Technology has advanced to major extents and now travelling to extreme corners of the planet does not seem impossible. A company in the US named Virgin Galactic just launched its first flight to the edge of space with private tourists on Thursday and the entire world is stunned and surprised to see this revolutionary take off. After immense hard work of decades, the flight finally took off, and here’s all you need to know about it.

Who Are The Private Toirusts Of Virgin Galactic’s Flight To The Edge Of Space?

Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) took to the social media platform ‘X’ to share glimpses and snippets of the much-awaited and momentous takeoff.

Jon Goodwin, a former Olympian from Newcastle-under-Lyme was on this historical space trip. Interestingly, he purchased his ticket to join this adventure 18 years ago, according to a report by AP News. In fact, he is one of the first people who bought this ticket back in 2005. During that time, each ticket cost $200,000. After 18 years, the Virgin Galactic ticket is not priced at $450,000.

Jon was joined by 18-year-old Anastatia Mayers and her mother Keisha Schahaff, a 46-year-old. They are from Antigua and they got their hands on the tickets for this iconic Virgin Galactic journey by winning a competition, according to a report by BBC.

Also read: British Airways & Air France Extend Flight Durations By 2 Hrs After Niger Shuts Its Airspace   

Details About This Splendid Journey:

  • Virgin Galactic’s VMS Eve carried the passengers on this trip to the edge of space.
  • The flight departed from New Mexico’s Spaceport America at 8:30 MDT (local time).
  • It took about 50 minutes for the Unity rocket ship to fly alone and detach from the Eve.
  • At a high altitude of 85 km, they experienced zero gravity. They got permission to unbuckle and feel the thrills of zero gravity.
  • After enjoying one of the best and most cherished moments of their lives, they returned to Spaceport America after an hour.

This Space Journey Hit Several Milestones Too.

  • The Virgin Galactic space trip recorded more women than men on the flight and something like this happened for the first time on a flight to space.
  • Jon Goodwin is the first Olympian to go to space.
  • Also, he is the second person with Parkinson’s disease to visit space.
  • Jon is the now third-oldest person to go on a space journey.
  • Anastatia Mayers and Keisha Schahaff are the first mother-daughter duo to embark on a journey to space.
  • They are also the sixth and seventh black women on a historical journey to space.
  • Anastatia made a record for being the youngest person to visit space.

Also read: Chandrayaan-3: Spacecraft To Perform Its 5th Earth Orbit-Raising Manoeuvre. Here’s All About It

Will you ever dare to try something as adventurous as going to space?

Cover Image Courtesy: Twitter/ Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic)

First Published: August 11, 2023 1:48 PM