China News Service, May 23. According to the US "World Journal" report, the space travel company Virgin Galactic (Virgin Galactic) successfully conducted its first manned rocket flight test flight in New Mexico on the 22nd. Passengers' plan to provide space tourism has taken another step forward, and it is expected that commercial flight services will be officially provided in 2022.
According to U.S. media reports, the VSS Unity in this test flight flew to an altitude of 55.45 miles at three times the speed of sound and then returned to the atmosphere.
The picture shows the mission image released by Virgin Galactic founder Branson (Richard Branson).
Image source: screenshots from social media.
Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, said that the success of this test flight has made it possible for the "commercial space flight" that has been working hard for many years. If all goes well, it is expected that the service will be officially available from 2022.
Branson said after the successful landing of the aircraft, "Today is an important milestone for mankind to commercialize space travel."
The company’s chief executive officer Michael Colglazier said: “This test flight was quite successful. We will read all the information collected on the Voyager to make better preparations for the next two test flights.” Virgin Yinhe said that the next two test flights are undecided, but one of them will "take the founder Branson into space."
According to the report, this is not the first time Virgin Galactic has flown into space. In 2018, Unity once rose to an altitude of 82.7 kilometers. This was the first time Virgin Galactic entered the space field; the second time was in December 2020, but because Electromagnetic interference caused the computer to malfunction, and it was forced to land without completing the scheduled task.
Virgin Galactic is not the only private company that is trying to commercialize space travel. Blue Origin, founded by Amazon founder Bezos, launched its space capsule for the first time in January 2021 and plans to launch it on July 20. Carry out the first manned mission.