Nearly 20 years in the making, Richard Branson-founded Virgin Galactic’s inaugural commercial flight took place June 29, sending a trio of researchers and experiments from the Italian Air Force and Italy’s National Research Council on a short trip into suborbital space.
Mounted between the twin fuselages of the VMS Eve carrier aircraft, Virgin Space Ship (VSS) Unity took off from Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico, at about 10:30 a.m. EDT/8:30 a.m. local time to begin the Galactic 01 mission.
Commanded by Virgin Galactic’s Mike Masucci, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, and pilot Nicola Pecile, a former Italian Air Force lieutenant colonel, Unity separated from Eve at an altitude of 45,000 ft. With its 65,000 lb.-thrust hybrid rocket motor firing, the pilots steered the spaceship into what is known as the “gamma turn” maneuver to reach the edge of space.
The rocket motor shut down as planned after about 60 sec., leaving Unity to coast to an altitude of some 279,000 ft. At apogee, Unity’s four passengers began working on a series of microgravity research experiments and enjoyed a view of Earth set against the black backdrop of space.
Riding aboard the spaceship on its first commercial flight were Col. Walter Villadei, the mission commander, and Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi, a physician, both with the Italian Air Force; Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer with the National Research Council of Italy; and Virgin Galactic astronaut trainer Colin Bennett, who flew along with Branson on the company’s first crewed flight test in July 2021.
Thirteen min. 50 sec. after its release from VMS Eve, Unity glided to a landing at Spaceport America to complete Virgin Galactic’s inaugural commercial mission. “Che volo fantastico! An historic moment,” Branson wrote on Twitter.
Galactic 01 included 13 human-tended and autonomous experiments covering a range of scientific fields from biomedicine to thermo-fluid dynamics.
“We congratulate Virgin Galactic on its successful flight today,” Dan Dumbacher, executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said in a statement. “We are eager to witness the start of its commercial spaceflight service in the coming months.”
Virgin Galactic is targeting its next commercial flight, Galactic 02, in August.
