Virgin Galactic Will Send First Paid Passengers To Space

Three tourists will use the VSS Unity spacecraft to take off from New Mexico. (photo: twitter @virgingalctic)

Virgin Galactic, a company owned by Sir Richard Branson, will eventually send the first paid passengers into space today which ends nearly two decades of waiting.

The 'Galctic 02' mission will send a crew of six people into orbit - including three tourists - aboard the VSS Unity spacecraft on take-off from New Mexico.

The tourists include retired British Olympic athlete Jon Total (80 years), who paid 250,000 US dollars (Rp 3.7 billion) for his tickets into space in 2005.

There are also mother and daughter couple from Antigua, Keisha Schahaff (46 years) and Anastatia Mayers (18 years), who won free tickets for this once-in-a-lifetime commercial trip.

They will join three other crew members on the spacecraft, which will reach an altitude of more than 50 miles (about 80.5 km) above sea level to enjoy the incredible view from Earth.

Virgin Galactic, founded by Branson in 2004, has confirmed the flight launch time schedule will open at 9 a.m. local time (4 p.m. BST time). The official live broadcast of this mission will be broadcast on the company's website and YouTube channel.

"The entry of the future of space travel," the company said in a statement on its website. "The live broadcast will begin just before the release of the spacecraft."

The historic Galactic 02 mission today will carry six people on board, including three members of the Virgin Galactic crew - Commander Frederick Sturckow, Pilot Kelly Latimer, and Astronaut instructor Beth Moses.

One of the three tourists is Jon Totaling, the British Olympic athlete who first traveled to space, after competing in the 1972 Munich Olympics as a canoe.

belong - who were diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2014 - underwent this journey 18 years after reportedly spending 250,000 US dollars to secure his seat.

Since being diagnosed, he has been dedicated to raising awareness about Parkinson's disease and the importance of research finding drugs - and hopes that participating in this mission will help highlight these conditions.

Two other tourists who are part of the team are the mother-child couple from Antigua, Keisha Schahaff and Anastasia Mayers.

Keisha, who said she was 'not feeling nervous at all' about the trip, won a lottery with prizes with Omeze, a profit-oriented fundraising company in the US, for this once-in-a-lifetime commercial trip.

Anastasia is studying philosophy and physics at the University of Aberdeen and wants to be an astrobiologist.

At the age of 18, he will be the second youngest person to travel into space, after Oliver Daemen, who flew on a Blue Origin rocket at the age of 18 in July 2021.

Galactic 02 is an early milestone in a growing industry called'space tourism', where the general public has the opportunity to go into orbit only for the pleasure of the experience.

However, each ticket costs thousands - reported up to $450,000 per ticket - and the current experience is limited to very rich people (or, in the case of Keisha and her daughter, lucky).

Some Virgin Galactic ticket holders have been waiting nearly 20 years for their trip, includingTEN, who are from Newcastle.

The eight-year-old told BBC Breakfast last month that it felt 'truly strange' finally on the verge of a trip he had ordered in 2005.

He said he was very excited about what would be a 'cuka on the cake' after life doing 'attractable things'.

"I always believe that funds will be raised for this, even though many people don't believe it," he said, quoted by DailyMail.

Virgin Galactic launch method differs from SpaceX and Blue Origin, which launches classic vertical rockets like NASA. Virgin Galactic uses a carrier named White Knight Two with two pilots taking off the runway.