Virgin Galactic is set to embark on its fifth commercial spaceflight since it began service last summer.
Galactic 05 is scheduled to lift off from Spaceport America in New Mexico on Thursday (November 2) at approximately 9 a.m. EDT (10 a.m. EDT; 1400 GMT).
The mission will also carry three passengers Virgo galaxy A crew aboard the VSS Unity spaceplane on a suborbital mission, where cabin occupants will experience several minutes of weightlessness at the edge of the planet. space.
Whether or not passenger names for each flight will be made public is a decision made between ticket holders and Virgin Galactic, and not every passenger over the past few months has chosen to have their name published before their flight. For Galactic 05, two of the three passengers were named Released earlier in OctoberThe couple happens to be already well-known in the space industry.
Related: Meet the crew of Virgin Galactic’s fifth commercial spaceflight
Alan Stern is a planetary scientist and vice chair of the Space Sciences Division at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. He participated in several NASA Research missions throughout his career and currently serves as principal investigator of new Horizons Mission to Pluto and Kuiper belt.
That famous photo Pluto Have you seen, what are the famous heart-shaped dwarf planet stars? Alan Stern is the main reason the picture exists.
Kelly Girardi will fly alongside Stern inside the VSS Unity crew cabin. Everything in Girardi’s life has led her to this first trip into space, and she hopes it will be the first of many.
Girardi has worked as a researcher in the aviation industry throughout her career. She is a mission operations lead at Palantir Technologies, a payload specialist at the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) and a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) social media influencer with nearly 700,000 followers. Through her online presence, she has created a wealth of educational content viewed by millions, and has also authored three books about space.
Stern and Girardi’s missions were sponsored by their organizations, both of which focus on research. Their primary goals during Galactic 05 will be to complete a series of experiments that will be conducted within the short window Weightlessness During the peak of their journey.
L-1 and counting! We’re on schedule to take the #Galactic05 crew and their research into space tomorrow, November 2nd. This mission will once again turn VSS Unity into a suborbital science laboratory. pic.twitter.com/kzVkOUaKpUNovember 1, 2023
The third private passenger was not named in the Virgin Galactic statement, but was identified as a person with French-Italian citizenship. Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor Colin Bennett will fly inside the VSS Unity cabin with the trio, with mission commander Mike Masucci and pilot Kelly Latimer at the cockpit controls.
the pictures: The first space tourists
Unity’s journey into space begins on the runway at Spaceport America. The spaceplane is nestled between the dual cockpits of its carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, piloted and piloted by Jamil Janjua and Andy Edghill in Galactic 05, respectively. At an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 metres), Eve’s VSS Unity was launched to burn off its rocket motor and complete its ascent into space.
After a short period on top of the world, VSS Unity and its crew will return to touch down on the runway at Spaceport America, followed shortly after by VMS Eve.
Virgin Galactic has not live-streamed its missions since Galactic 02, and now only posts mission updates through the company’s website. X account, formerly known as Twitter. Thursday’s flight is expected to begin around 9 a.m. EST (10 a.m. ET/1400 GMT). From takeoff to landing, Galactic 05 will likely last about 1.5 hours.
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