Virgin Galactic first launched a two-passenger device

The VSS Unity spacecraft was lifted to an altitude of about 13.5 thousand meters by the VMS Eve carrier aircraft. Then

the plane released the spacecraft, the device fired its rocket engine and accelerated to a speed that was three times the speed of sound.

After performing a slow somersault in conditionsmicrogravity at the edge of space VSS Unity returned to the atmosphere in hover mode. The spacecraft has landed on the airstrip of the America Cosmodrome in New Mexico, from which it took off earlier.

“Everything went flawlessly,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier told CNBC about the flight.

Virgin Orbit launched a rocket into orbit from an airplane for the first time

Virgin's Unity spacecraftGalactic is designed for six passengers and two pilots. The company has booked about 600 tickets for future flights, which are selling for between $ 200,000 and $ 250,000.

This flight was the first since February 2019,the first in New Mexico and the third in the history of the company. Virgin Galactic conducted two test flights from its development center in the California Mojave Desert and then moved to its base of operations.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson personallywas present at the launch site, observing the flight. He was overseen by former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who helped build the $ 218.5 million spaceport as the company's base of operations.

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