Sir Richard Branson's company will launch six employees to space before starting commercial space tourism operations in June.
The company announced in a statement on its website it is targeting late May for the fifth-ever spaceflight of VSS Unity.
It would also be the first flight of Virgin Galactic's spaceplane since July 2021, when Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson with three other crew members. If all goes according to plan, the space tourism firm then hopes to launch its first commercial flight in June.Every flight Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity has performed so far has been part of a test campaign, and flight number five will be no different. The flight, called Unity 25, is, however, expected to be the last test flight before the spaceplane's space tourism services go fully operational.
In the almost two years since Unity and Eve last took a crew to space, Virgin Galactic has been gradually upgrading the vessels, including replacing Eve's pylon, which links the twin fuselages where Unity is housed during flight. Late last month, the upgraded Unity performed a glide flight test ahead of Unity 25.
Now, if all goes to plan, Virgin Galactic could be on the verge of commencing commercial operations. Its main competitor Blue Origin has already flown several commercial crews to suborbital space, but its New Shepard rocket has been grounded since last year when an anomaly triggered its
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