Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic to commence test flight for space tourism programme

Richard Branson's space tech firm Virgin Galactic is set to launch a rocket-powered test flight with a reduced team of flyers from its New Mexico facility on Saturday, December 12 (local time). Due to the New Mexico Department of Health COVID-19 guidelines, the company announced that will launch its first crewed flight of reusable Unity vehicle with the essential crew and no guests or media onsite if the good weather conditions prevail, pending technical readiness.

The Virgin Galactic flight will attain objectives such as testing elements of the customer cabin, assessing the upgraded horizontal stabilizers and flight controls during boost, as well as carrying payloads for NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program. 

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The first of the total three final demonstration flights for Branson's ambitious project will take off from a purpose-built commercial spaceport in New Mexico with just two pilots from the Virgin Galactic Pilot Corps, former Nasa astronaut CJ Sturckow and Galactic chief test pilot Dave Mackay.

"With safety as our core priority, we remain committed to completing our first powered flight in New Mexico," said Michael Colglazier, Virgin Galactic CEO. He added that the company reduced the number of people onsite to the greatest degree, and minimized the operational footprint at its spaceport in New Mexico in accordance with state COVID-19 protocols.

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Due to no media on-site, "our team will endeavour to capture and share the beautiful images with the world after the flight has been completed," he informed. At least 600 tourists have already booked for the space tourism flight, including Hollywood celebrities Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio. The company announced that it was carrying out some final preparatory steps ahead of the launch of its commercial space tourism in 2021, according to a BBC report. 

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Mach-3 jet for space tourism

Earlier, Virgin Galactic unveiled a new generation delta-wing aircraft which it described as three times faster than the speed of sound for space tourism. Design scope of the Mach-3 jet was created in collaboration with Rolls Royce, it said in a statement. The high-speed commercial aircraft follows the completion of the Mission Concept Review (MCR) program milestone and authorisation from the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Center for Emerging Concepts and Innovation to go ahead with the certification framework, the firm informed. For perfect customer experience and environmental sustainability, the company set the super-fast jet’s capacity between nine to 19 people at an altitude of over 60,000 feet. 

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(Image Credit: Virgin Galactic site)