Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity soared to suborbital space on June 9th with six people onboard, marking the final flight of the spacecraft.
Unity's Farewell Flight
Unity, attached beneath the carrier aircraft Eve, took off from the Spaceport America runway in New Mexico at 1:31 AM EDT on June 9th. Firing its rocket motor, the spacecraft carried two pilots and four passengers into space before gliding back to Earth, according to Space. The mission, dubbed Galactic 07, reached an altitude of 87.5 kilometers, marking Unity's commercial suborbital flight. The spacecraft will now be retired, paving the way for Virgin Galactic's new Delta-class spacecraft, set to launch in 2026.
Scientific Experiments
Tuva Atasever, an astronaut from the Turkish Space Agency, flew on Galactic 07, brokered by Axiom Space, the company behind the Ax-3 private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) with SpaceX earlier this year. Serving as a backup astronaut for Ax-3, Atasever oversaw three different scientific experiments on Galactic 07. During the flight, Atasever wore a headset with sensors to monitor brain activity, a radiation dosimeter, and two commercial insulin pens to test the accuracy of insulin delivery in microgravity.
The suborbital flight also carried research devices from Purdue University and the University of California, Berkeley. Purdue's experiment focused on propellant in fuel tanks, while UC Berkeley tested a novel type of 3D printing in microgravity.
Crew and Passengers
Joining Atasever on Unity's flight were commander Nicola Pecil and pilot Jameel Janjua. Virgin Galactic pilots Andy Edgel and C.J. Sturckow, a former NASA astronaut, flew carrier aircraft VMS Eve. After Unity landed, Virgin Galactic revealed the three paying passengers on the flight: Anand "Andy" Harish Sadhwani from California, Irving Izchak Pergament from New York, and Giorgi Manenti from Italy.
Unity's Legacy
The VSS Unity spacecraft touched down at Spaceport America at 2:41 AM EDT on June 9th, marking Virgin Galactic's seventh commercial flight and twelfth human spaceflight. In total, Virgin Galactic has flown VSS Unity 32 times, including non-orbital test flights. However, Virgin Galactic has decided to retire VSS Unity, making way for the new Delta-class spacecraft, which is designed for increased flight frequency. Similar in appearance to Unity, Delta will carry six passengers instead of four and is capable of flying twice a week at a rate about eight times faster than its predecessor. Virgin Galactic plans to operate 125 flights per year.