Crew onboard Virgin Galactic spaceplane celebrates successful launch

This is the moment the crew on board Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane celebrated with a fist-bump during the company’s first commercial mission.

Italian researcher Walter Villadei and the company’s astronaut instructor Colin Bennett shared a celebratory moment inside the craft that left Earth’s atmosphere and soared to the edge of space to conduct science experiments in weightless conditions.

It is a landmark moment for Virgin Galactic, which was founded by Richard Branson in 2004 with the goal of offering commercial space flights – a feat that has taken just shy of 20 years to achieve.

Today marked the company’s first ‘purchased’ mission, instead of just a test flight. The 90-minute mission took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico at around 8.30am local time.

The rocket plane, known as Unity, was strapped to a ‘mothership’ a carrier aircraft called VMS Eve. 

Eve is a type of carrier plane that took Unity 44,500 feet above Earth’s surface to release it.

Unity ignited its thruster and shut off once it reached space.

At the apex of the flight, the spaceplane ‘feathered’ its wings open and hovered above our planet’s atmosphere, allowing the men to experience weightlessness and epic views of the final frontier for a few minutes.

The crew also held an Italian flag as they floated inside the cabin. 

‘Welcome to space, astronauts,’ Virgin Galactic’s Sirisha Bandla said in a livestream. 

The mission, dubbed Galactic 01, landed back on the New Mexico runway at 11:50.

Also onboard for the epic journey were Pantaleone Carlucci and Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi.

Unlike Branson’s rivals, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, this flight was not crewed by wealthy individuals or celebrities who dish out hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars for the experience.

The focus of the Galactic 01 mission was to test 13 experiments in zero gravity, which collected biometric data, measured cognitive performance and recorded how certain liquids and solids mix in microgravity conditions. 

And the three Italian researchers did not pay for their seats.

The cost for future tickets was originally slated as $250,000 each, though Virgin Galactic recently raised that price to $450,000. 

Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin also use rockets to launch capsules into space, while Branson chose to take a different approach with mid-air launches. 

Once Virgin Galactic’s planes reach an altitude of about 45,000 feet, the mothership will release the spaceplane, which will then shoot off to the final frontier. 

The technique has been explored over several decades of flight research, including the X-1, the first plane to break the sound barrier, and the X-15, the fastest-piloted aircraft ever flown, topping out at 4,520 miles an hour during a 1967 flight.

And it reduces the need for massive amounts of fuel since the craft is not using force from the rocket to crawl through the dense lower atmosphere. 

Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane was powered by two pilots while the four passengers sat in the cabin bracing for space.

For Italian Air Force Colonel Walter Villadei, designated as commander, the flight aboard the spaceplane was part of his astronaut training for a future mission to the International Space Station. 

Joining him on Thursday were two Italian colleagues – Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Landolfi, a physician and flight surgeon, and Pantaleone Carlucci, a research council member acting as a flight engineer and payload specialist.

Rounding out the crew was their Virgin Galactic trainer, Colin Bennett, the company’s lead ‘astronaut instructor,’ and Unity’s two pilots, Michael Masucci and Nicola Pecile.

One of the Italian researchers was wearing a special suit that measures biometric data and physiological responses, while another conducted tests using sensors to track heart rate, brain function and other metrics while in microgravity. 

And the third studied how certain liquids and solids mix in that very weak gravity.

The gleaming white spaceplane is designed to separate from its dual-fuselage mothership, then fall away as the pilots ignite the vehicle’s engine to send the rocket plane streaking in a near-vertical climb at about three times the speed of sound to the blackness of space.

At the apex of the flight, the crew experienced a few minutes of weightlessness with the engine shut off before the craft shifted into re-entry mode and glided back to the spaceport for a runway landing. 

The flight, from takeoff to touchdown, lasted about 90 minutes.

Branson became the first billionaire in space when he took the maiden voyage of the VSS Unity on July 11, 2021.

The Virgin Galactic founder was one of six Virgin Galactic employees aboard VSS Unity.

However, the spaceplane was grounded shortly after the flight due to an investigation when it veered off course during its descent back to the runway in the New Mexico desert.

Branson became the first billionaire in space when he took the maiden voyage of the VSS Unity on July 11, 2021.

The Virgin Galactic founder was one of six Virgin Galactic employees aboard VSS Unity.

However, the spaceplane was grounded shortly after the flight due to an investigation when it veered off course during its descent back to the runway in the New Mexico desert.

In September 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was investigating a deviation in the descent of the flight.

The FAA, which oversees commercial air and spaceflight in the US, found the spaceplane ‘deviated from its Air Traffic Control clearance’ and did so for about a minute and 41 seconds.

Branson and his team have since worked out the issue and recently sent a test crew of four employees 54.2 miles above Earth’s surface in May, paving the way for Virgin Galactic’s first commercial, Galactic 01.