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March 7, 2023

LOWERING COST OF SPACE TRAVEL Read More

February 17, 2023

VMS EVE TAKES FLIGHT!! Read More

August 2, 2022

COMING SOON!! ASTRONAUT CAMPUS & TRAINING FACILITY Read More

July 27, 2022

SPACE PERSPECTIVE UNVEILS PATENTED CAPSULE DESIGN Read More

July 6, 2022

VIRGIN GALACTIC ANNOUNCES NEXT GENERATION MOTHERSHIPS Read More

April 12, 2022

SPACE PERSPECTIVE UNVAILS IMAGES OF BALLOON CAPSULE Read More

October 25, 2021

BLUE ORIGIN & SIERRA SPACE DEVELOP SPACE STATION Read More

October 8, 2021

BLUE ORIGIN ASTRONAUT TRAINS WITH DEPREZ TRAVEL Read More

October 1, 2021

DEPREZ CHARTERS ZERO-G AIRCRAFT TO ROCHESTER Read More

August 5, 2021

VIRGIN GALACTIC ANNOUNCES Q2 FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR 2021 Read More

July 15, 2021

DEPREZ TRAVEL AND RMSC ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP Read More

July 15, 2021

MUSK BOOKED SEAT ON VIRGIN GALACTIC Read More

June 25, 2021

FAA OK'S VIRGIN GALACTIC TO LAUNCH CUSTOMERS TO SPACE Read More

June 18, 2021

SPACE PERSPECTIVE CONFIRMS SUCCESSFUL TEST FLIGHT Read More

May 22, 2021

VIRGIN GALACTIC'S FIRST HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT FROM NM Read More

February 25, 2021

VIRGIN GALACTIC ANNOUNCES Q4 HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2020 Read More

November 23, 2020

MEET PILOT CJ STURCKOW Read More

October 27, 2020

VIRGIN GALACTIC HIRES 2 NEW PILOTS Read More

June 22, 2020

VIRGIN GALACTIC SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH NASA Read More

May 1, 2020

VSS UNITY SPACESHIPTWO GOES SOLO IN NEW MEXICO Read More

February 25, 2020

ONE SMALL STEP BEGINS YOUR JOURNEY TO SPACE Read More

February 13, 2020

VSS UNITY MOVES TO SPACEPORT AMERICA Read More

October 16, 2019

YOUR SPACE SUITS HAVE BEEN REVEALED Read More

August 22, 2019

SPACEPORT AMERICA: UNVEILING NEW AREAS Read More

February 22, 2019

VSS UNITY RETURNS TO SPACE WITH 3 ONBOARD Read More

January 7, 2019

NEW MOMENT IN SPACE HISTORY Read More

December 13, 2018

VIRGIN GALACTIC'S VSS UNITY REACHES SPACE Read More

December 7, 2018

ORION SPAN - DEMOCRATIZATION OF SPACE STARTS TODAY! Read More

July 26, 2018

VG ANNOUNCES VSS UNITY BREAKS MACH 2 Read More

July 6, 2018

VG ANNOUNCES FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT WITH ITALY Read More

April 9, 2018

SPACE HOTEL EYES 2021 LAUNCH DATE Read More

April 5, 2018

ORION SPAN ANNOUNCES WORLD'S 1st LUXURY SPACE HOTEL Read More

April 5, 2018

VSS UNITY'S FIRST POWERED TEST FLIGHT Read More

August 4, 2017

UPDATE: VSS UNITY 6th GLIDE FLIGHT Read More

May 1, 2017

VSS UNITY'S FIRST FEATHER FLIGHT Read More

December 3, 2016

VSS UNITY COMPLETES HER FIRST GLIDE FLIGHT Read More

September 8, 2016

VIRGIN GALACTIC IS IN THE AIR AGAIN! Read More

May 22, 2015

VG FIRST MAJOR MILESTONE IN RETURN TO FLIGHT PLAN Read More

Dec 5, 2014

NASA LAUNCHES ORION SPACECRAFT - FIRST STEP TO MARS Read More

May 23, 2014

VG VIRGIN GALACTIC ROCKET MOTOR MILESTONE Read More

January 10, 2014

VG 3rd POWERED TEST FLIGHT SUCESSFUL Read More

September 5, 2013

VG ACHIEVES SECOND SUPERSONIC FLIGHT Read More

May 29, 2013

VG SEAT NEXT TO LEONARDO DICAPRIO AUCTIONED FOR $1.5 MILLION Read More

May 29, 2013

CURRAN INTERVIEWED BY DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE Read More

June 28, 2012

SPACE TOURISM IS HERE! NY TIMES INTERVIEWS CRAIG CURRAN Read More

Read Archives

VIRGIN GALACTIC: WE ARE BACK IN THE AIR

September 8, 2016 - VSS Unity has taken to the skies! Following earlier tests, the spaceship VSS Unity was cleared for her first ‘captive carry’ flight mated to VMS Eve. This is of course the first flight of VSS Unity; built by Virgin Galactic's sister company The Spaceship Company (TSC), the first mission conducted by Virgin Galactic’s own Operations team and the first crewed by Virgin Galactic pilots (Dave Mackay and Mark Stucky in VSS Unity and Mike Masucci and Todd Ericson in VMS Eve). So it is an important and emotional milestone for all of the team. It was especially thrilling to see the beautiful photos of the vehicles together in the air!

The flight follows years of designing, manufacturing, and testing every individual component and subsystem, followed by several months of thorough and rigorous Integrated Vehicle Ground Testing. Virgin galactic has now fully entered the flight test program and will be sharing more detail on that soon, from a series of glide flights to rocket powered test flights of increasingly ambitious scope (you can read a little more on this here). They may sometimes look the same, but each flight also runs a number of test objectives and every flight generates extremely valuable test data. For example, today’s ‘captive carry’ flight captured a huge amount of high fidelity aerodynamic performance data on the spaceship as VMS Eve essentially serves as a unique ‘flying wind tunnel.’

The Virgin Galactic engineers are busy analysing the data from the flight now, and the output is one factor that informs when the next flight will be. There is still some way to go, experimental flight test programs are by definition open-ended. But today’s milestone is an important one and from all of the team at Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company. Here’s to many more flights ahead!