Galactic 01 Spaceflight: the first successful commercial flight
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The Eve carrier plane together with the Unity rocket plane took off from the spaceport in the American state of New Mexico on Thursday at 08:30 local time. About the time of the flight, at an altitude of 13,600 meters, the rocket plane separated from the plane, turned on its own engines and went to the limits of space, reaching a maximum height of 85 kilometers. This is how the BBC described the beginning of the first commercial flight to the edge of space, which took place on Thursday, June 29.
Although there were no tourists on board the cosmonaut in the usual sense of the word, the flight is registered as a commercial one, since the Italian Ministry of Defense paid for its officers.
The flight lasted about one and a half hours. In addition to two pilots and an astronaut-instructor of the Virgin Galactic company, there were three Italians on board. They conducted scientific experiments, and at the highest point of the flight, unfurled the national flag in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Italian Air Force.
Billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson plans to gradually send those who purchased tickets in advance for a price of 250,000 to 450,000 rubles. dollars There were about 800 such applicants.
The ship Unity can take only a few passengers on board, and flights in the near future can be conducted only once a month. It is expected that in 2026, the company Virgin Galactic will put new rocket planes into operation and start making flights once a week.
Virgin Galactic was founded in 2004. Experimental aircraft SpaceShipOne, which was able to reach the edge of space twice in two weeks and received a prize of 10 million dollars for technological innovations.
In 2014, Branson’s project was almost closed. The prototype of the Enterprise rocket plane fell apart during takeoff, one of the two pilots was killed.
At the end of 2018, the new Unity rocket plane reached a height of 80 km for the first time. In 2021, Richard Branson personally flew on it, he said. He called his impressions incredible.
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