Virgin Galactic's First Commercial Flight Successfully Takes Three Passengers To Kosmos Bank

Virgin Galactic's Commercial Flight, successfully brought 3 amateur astronauts. (photo: twitter @richardbranson)

JAKARTA - Virgin Galactic's first commercial space flight took off from New Mexico Thursday 10 August and managed to bring three passengers to the edge of the cosmos.

The company's rocket-powered spacecraft, VSS Unity, brought three customers - a mother and daughter from Antigua who won their place in a fundraising draw and a former 80-year-old British Olympic athlete who paid $250,000 for his seat in 2005.

This historic flight took off from Virgin Galactic's space runway in New Mexico at 10.30 a.m. local time, where passengers boarded VSS Unity when the plane was installed under the wings of a large double-fusselaj aircraft called VMS Eve.

The takeoff was like taking off an ordinary plane, with the aircraft traveling on the runway before boarding more than 40,000 feet. At that point, VMS Eve released the spacecraft, which started its rocket engine and continued its flight to more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

That magical moment when your dreams comes true #Galactic02 pic.twitter.com/k5NsNlXb6u

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) August 10, 2023

That magic moment when your dreams come true #Galctic02 pic.twitter.com/k5NsNlXb6u

When the crew reached the edge of space, a crew member gave the camera a cold thumb before everyone took off their seat belts and flew around zero gravity.

Then, the team gathered around the plane window in admiration and enjoyed the view of Earth for a few minutes before returning to the atmosphere. Overall, this mission lasted for an hour. This flight is historic for several reasons. Keisha Schahaff, 46, and her daughter, Anastatia Mayers, 18, were the first Antigua people to go into space.

Former canoe athlete Jon Total is the first Olympic athlete to become an astronaut and only the second in history to have Parkinson's disease go into space.

Amazing watching #Galactic02 with Keisha and Anastatia’s family in Antigua and Barbuda. Tears of joy! https://t.co/oJb9bw6ggk @virgingalactic pic.twitter.com/lCQjnnN4yE

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) August 10, 2023

Amazing watching #Galactic02 with Keisha and Anastatia’s family in Antigua and Barbuda. Tears of joy! https://t.co/oJb9bw6ggk @virgingalactic pic.twitter.com/lCQjnnN4yE

For Virgin Galactic, this is the first time an untrained passenger commercial crew has left Earth's atmosphere - a company ambition founded by Richard Branson that has been making for decades.

Schahaff and his daughter won their seat in a lottery that raised $1.7 million in a grant to Space for Humanity, a nonprofit organization aimed at expanding access to space.

After learning that Richard Branson gave him a seat, he called Mayers: "Now you're 18 years old, you're going to go into space."

"This is a childhood dream come true," Schahaff told reporters after landing. "I went into space and came back with my daughter. And if anyone is wondering, Earth is round."

Schahaff is a health and well-being coach who specializes in helping women achieve balance through healthy diets, energy work, and various empowerment welfare practices, according to his website.

Mayers, the second youngest person to travel to space, is one of Schahaff's two daughters.

He is currently undergoing his second year at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, studying Philosophy and Physics to become an astrobiologist.

However, Newcastle in northern England earned its seat as the company's first paid subscriber 18 years ago.

Your son David told DailyMail.com on the runway that his father's space flight had been waiting for a long time.

When asked how his father became the first and second oldest Olympics with Parkinson's, David said: "My dad likes to check a lot of boxes."

aturya adalah seorang atlet kano slalom yang pensiun, telah menjadi kompetisi reguler dan terkemukaran dalam Kejuaratan Ferrari Hillclimb sejak 1992, menang pada tahun 2000 dan 2008, dan memiliki lebih banyak kemenangan Kelas daripada kompetisi lainnya - pada akhir musim 2020.

She married Pauline, who also competed in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. She was in New Mexico encouraging her husband, son-in-law David, grandson-in-law, and Lily's daughter-in-law. WhenEVER left the spacecraft and returned to the ground, Pauline ran close to hug her.

The former Olympics also spent his life as a brave man, winning the race in the Arctic Circle and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

Parkinson's diagnosis was diagnosed in 2014 and has since been dedicated to raising awareness about the disease and the importance of research on finding drugs - and hopes that participating in this mission will help highlight these conditions.

Virgin Galactic has already ordered a queue of 800 competing customers for their chance to go into space, which was made possible by the company's inaugural mission in June.