Virgin Galactic’s 5th Commercial Spaceflight Set for Takeoff
Virgin Galactic is preparing for its fifth commercial spaceflight since launching the service last summer. Known as Galactic 05, the mission is scheduled to lift off from Spaceport America in New Mexico on Thursday, November 2 at approximately 9 a.m. MDT. The VSS Unity space plane will carry three passengers, along with the Virgin Galactic crew, on a suborbital mission that will provide passengers with several minutes of weightlessness at the edge of space.
The names of the passengers for each flight are decided between the ticket-holders and Virgin Galactic. Not all passengers have chosen to have their names made public. However, for Galactic 05, the names of two of the three passengers were released in October, and these individuals are already well known in the space industry.
One of the passengers is Alan Stern, a planetary scientist and vice president of the Space Science Division at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado. Stern has been involved in numerous NASA research missions and currently leads the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. He played a critical role in capturing the famous heart-shaped feature of Pluto in a photograph taken by NASA’s New Horizons probe in 2015.
Joining Stern on the spaceflight is Kellie Gerardi, whose life has led her to this moment. Gerardi has worked as a researcher in the aeronautics industry and holds positions at Palantir Technologies and the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences. She is also a social media STEM influencer with nearly 700,000 followers and has authored three books about space.
Both Stern and Gerardi will conduct experiments during their time in microgravity.
The third passenger for Galactic 05, whose name has not been released, is specified as someone of Franco-Italian nationality. Colin Bennett, a Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor, will also be part of the crew inside the VSS Unity’s cabin. Mission commander Mike Masucci and pilot Kelly Latimer will be in the cockpit.
The flight will begin on the runway at Spaceport America, with the space plane stowed between the dual cockpits of its carrier aircraft, VMS Eve. At around 50,000 feet in altitude, VSS Unity will be released from Eve, ignite its rocket motor, and ascend to space. After their time at the top, VSS Unity and its crew will return for a landing back at the runway at Spaceport America.
Unlike previous missions, Virgin Galactic will not livestream Galactic 05. However, the company will post mission updates on its social media platforms, including Twitter. The flight is expected to last approximately 1.5 hours, from liftoff to landing.