Reaching a velocity of about three times the speed of sound, the rocket motor shut down and the crew was suddenly weightless.
Virgin Galactic's spaceplane is propelled by its rocket motor on its way to a maximum altitude of over 50 miles. Seconds later its hybrid rocket motor ignited, propelling the ship up on a near-vertical climb out of the dense lower atmosphere. EDT, taking off from Spaceport America's 12,000-foot runway in the New Mexico desert near White Sands Missile Range.Īfter climbing to an altitude of about 45,000 feet, Unity was released, dropping like a bomb from the carrier jet's wing. With the Unity space plane strapped to the wing of Virgin's twin-fuselage VMS Eve carrier jet, the flight got underway at about 11 a.m. I've got some fast cars, but that acceleration was just unbelievable. "The thing that surprised me more than everything else was the beauty of the Earth from space. "That was by far the most awesome thing I've ever done in my life," Goodwin said after landing. Space tourists, from left, Anastatia Mayers, Jon Goodwin and Keisha Schahaff pose for photos before boarding their Virgin Galactic flight at Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, N.M., Aug. But that did not deter him or Virgin Galactic. Goodwin, who bought his ticket to fly in 2005 - the fourth person to reserve a flight - was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2014. Schahaff and Mayers won their tickets through a lottery benefiting Space for Humanity, a nonprofit founded by philanthropist and space entrepreneur Dylan Taylor that is devoted to "expanding access to space for all of humanity." Branson personally delivered the tickets. "I know I will be changed by my experience, and I hope I will be able to share that energy and inspire the people around me in my role as a life coach, a mother and as an ambassador for our beautiful planet." "The fact that I am here, the first to travel to space from Antigua, shows that space really is becoming more accessible," Schahaff said in a pre-flight statement. The flight marked a major milestone for Virgin owner Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur and adventurer whose team has been struggling for years to transition from test flights to commercial passenger service, offering brief sojourns in weightlessness for those willing to pay $450,000 for a ticket to ride. Latimer, Virgin's first female spaceplane pilot, took her first ride, as did the three passengers. It was Sturckow's record eighth flight to space - four aboard the space shuttle and now four at the controls of Virgin's spaceplane - while Moses, Virgin's chief astronaut instructor, took her fourth trip aloft aboard Unity. Anastatia Mayers, 18, takes in the view from nearly 55 miles up as she, her mother Keisha Schahaff, 46, Jon Goodwin, 80, and three Virgin Galactic crew members enjoy three to four minutes of weightlessness in the company's seventh sub-orbital spaceflight, the first with commercial space tourists aboard. Judging by live-streamed views from inside the spacecraft as it reached a maximum altitude of nearly 55 miles - nearly five miles above the 50-mile altitude NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration recognize as the "boundary" of space - the passengers were clearly thrilled by the view and the few minutes of weightlessness they experienced.
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