Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic had aced its final test flight to suborbital space ahead of the launch of its commercial service in June 2023.
Unity 25 marks the company’s fifth spaceflight and the company’s first flight in nearly two years.
The Unity 25 carried two pilots and four Virgin Galactic employees – Beth Moses, Luke Mays, Jamila Gilbert, and Christopher Huie – to the edge of space.
Successful boost, WE HAVE REACHED SPACE! 🌌#UNITY25
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) May 25, 2023
After reaching around 13,563 meters of altitude, the mothership dropped Unity before the space plane blasted its way to suborbital space, allowing its passengers to experience a few moments of weightlessness.
The flight reached an altitude of 87 kilometers, the company said.
Earlier Virgin Galactic said that the Unity 25 will be the company’s “final assessment of the full spaceflight system and astronaut experience,” before its first commercial flight ‘Galactic 01’ scheduled in “late June”.
About 800 tickets have been sold over the past decade, with the initial batch going for $200,000 each. Tickets now cost $450,000 per person.
The last Virgin Galactic spaceflight took place in July 2021 and had Virgin CEO Richard Branson, along with three other employees, on board.
In the last two years, the space tourism company was hit by losses. Its sister satellite launching company Virgin Orbit went bankrupt in April.
