Friday, October 6, 2023

SpaceShipTwo Update: GALACTIC 04 Is in the Books...

With the Moon shining in the distance, VSS Unity prepares to land at New Mexico's Spaceport America as the Galactic 04 flight is about to conclude...on October 6, 2023.
Spaceport America

Virgin Galactic Completes Fifth Successful Spaceflight in Five Months (Press Release)

Galactic 04 mission further demonstrates repeatable spaceflight

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. – Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“Virgin Galactic” or the “Company”) today announced the completion of its fifth successful human space mission in five months, Galactic 04.

Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said: “Our teams in New Mexico and California have delivered on our monthly spaceflight objectives. Three new astronauts journeyed to space today and brought back incredible memories and stories of their experience above the Earth. These early missions with our initial ship, VSS Unity, have informed and confirmed the design and maintenance objectives for our Delta-class spaceships, and the production tooling for those ships is on track to commence later in the fourth quarter.”

Onboard Galactic 04:

· Astronaut 017 Ron Rosano from the United States of America.

· Astronaut 018 Trevor Beattie from the United Kingdom.

· Astronaut 019 Namira Salim from Pakistan, marking the first person to fly to space from that country. Salim is also a resident of the United Arab Emirates and Monaco.

VSS Unity was piloted by Commander Kelly Latimer and Pilot CJ Sturckow, with Chief Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses on board. VMS Eve was piloted by Commander Nicola Pecile and Pilot Jameel Janjua.

The Company will now proceed with post-flight inspections and analysis in preparation for the next commercial space mission, Galactic 05.

Galactic 04 In-Flight Facts:

Take-off Time: 9:28 AM, MDT (8:28 AM, PDT)

Altitude at Release: 44,341 feet (13,515 meters)

Apogee: 54.3 miles (87.4 kilometers)

Top Speed: Mach 2.95

Landing Time: 10:23 AM, MDT (9:23 AM, PDT)

Source: Virgin Galactic

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