Virgin Galactic has made another commercial suborbital launch. Carrier aircraft VMS Eve took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico, USA at 1434 GMT on 8 September 2023 with SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity slung underneath. . This was the third commercial mission for StarShipTwo.
Mission badge for Galactic 03. Courtesy: Virgin Galactic
After climbing to 44,867 feet, the carrier aircraft successfully dropped StarShipTwo Unity which ignited immediately after its drop at circa 1520 GMT. The flight which climbed to 88.5 km (55 miles) was dubbed Galactic 03. It carried three participant astronauts in addition to the three crew. Those aboard included Virgin Galactic pilots Nicola Pecile (Commander) and Michael Masucci (Co-pilot) and Chief Astronaut Trainer Beth Moses as cabin crew. The patient “passengers/participants” were all in their seventies including Adrian Reynard- a UK racing car designer, US real estate businessman Ken Baxter (who had been on the waiting list for 19 years), and South African businessman Timothy Nash. All were safely recovered to the airstrip with a landing at 1536 GMT.
Jameel Janjua (Commander) and Kelly Latimer (Co-pilot) flew VMS Eve.
