{"id":32409,"date":"2023-08-10T10:42:05","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T16:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/virgin-galactic-flies-its-first-tourists-to-the-edge-of-space\/"},"modified":"2023-08-10T16:42:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T16:42:05","slug":"virgin-galactic-flies-its-first-tourists-to-the-edge-of-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/virgin-galactic-flies-its-first-tourists-to-the-edge-of-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Galactic flies its first tourists to the edge of space"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Space
Space tourists, from left, Anastatia Mayers, Jon Goodwin and Keisha Schahaff pose for photos before boarding their Virgin Galactic flight at Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences on Thursday. Andr\u00e9s Leighton\/The Associated Press<\/span>Andres Leighton<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES \u2014 Virgin Galactic rocketed to the edge of space with its first tourists Thursday, including a former British Olympian who bought his ticket 18 years ago and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

The space plane glided back to a runway landing at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert, after a brief flight that gave passengers a few minutes of weightlessness.<\/p>\n

Cheers erupted from families and friends watching from below when the craft\u2019s rocket motor fired after it was released from the plane that had carried it aloft. The rocket ship reached about 55 miles (88 kilometers) high.<\/p>\n

Richard Branson\u2019s company expects to begin offering monthly trips to customers on its winged space plane, joining Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin and Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX in the space tourism business.<\/p>\n

Virgin Galactic passenger Jon Goodwin, who was among the first to buy a ticket in 2005, said he had faith that he would someday make the trip. The 80-year-old athlete \u2014 he competed in canoeing in the 1972 Olympics \u2014 has Parkinson\u2019s disease and wants to be an inspiration to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it shows them that these obstacles can be the start rather than the end to new adventures,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Ticket prices were $200,000 when Goodwin signed up. The cost is now $450,000.<\/p>\n

He was joined by sweepstakes winner Keisha Schahaff, 46, a health coach from Antigua, and her daughter, Anastatia Mayers, 18, a student at Scotland\u2019s University of Aberdeen. Also on board: two pilots and the company\u2019s astronaut trainer.<\/p>\n

It was Virgin Galactic\u2019s seventh trip to space since 2018, but the first with a ticket-holder. Branson, the company\u2019s founder, hopped on board for the first full-size crew ride in 2021. Italian military and government researchers soared in June on the first commercial flight. About 800 people are currently on Virgin Galactic\u2019s waiting list, according to the company.<\/p>\n

Virgin Galactic\u2019s rocket ship launches from the belly of an airplane, not from the ground, and requires two pilots in the cockpit. Once the mothership reaches about 50,000 feet (10 miles or 15 kilometers), the space plane is released and fires its rocket motor to make the final push to just over 50 miles (80 kilometers) up. Passengers can unstrap from their seats, float around the cabin for a few minutes and take in the sweeping views of Earth, before the space plane glides back home and lands on a runway.<\/p>\n

In contrast, the capsules used by SpaceX and Blue Origin are fully automated and parachute back down.<\/p>\n

Like Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin aims for the fringes of space, quick ups-and-downs from West Texas. Blue Origin has launched 31 people so far, but flights are on hold following a rocket crash last fall. The capsule, carrying experiments but no passengers, landed intact.<\/p>\n

SpaceX, is the only private company flying customers all the way to orbit, charging a much heftier price, too: tens of millions of dollars per seat. It\u2019s already flown three private crews. NASA is its biggest customer, relying on SpaceX to ferry its astronauts to and from the International Space Station. since 2020.<\/p>\n

People have been taking on adventure travel for decades, the risks underscored by the recent implosion of the Titan submersible that killed five passengers on their way down to view the Titanic wreckage. Virgin Galactic suffered its own casualty in 2014 when its rocket plane broke apart during a test flight, killing one pilot. Yet space tourists are still lining up, ever since the first one rocketed into orbit in 2001 with the Russians.<\/p>\n

Branson, who lives in the British Virgin Islands, watched Thursday\u2019s flight from a party in Antigua. He had held a virtual lottery to establish a pecking order for the company\u2019s first 50 customers \u2014 dubbed the Founding Astronauts. Virgin Galactic said the group agreed Goodwin would go first, given his age and his Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Dunn reported from Cape Canaveral, Florida.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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