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Why this is a great thing: Virgin Galactic has not been in space since February 2019, when three people flew on a single mission. That was a landmark shot (the second time the company arrived in space and the first time it carried passengers), but it also led to a damaged horizontal stabilizer, which led to a safety review and upgrade. Saturday’s flight was the first time these upgrades were tested throughout the space flight. The company tried to return to space last December, but that mission was canceled in the middle of the flight due to electromagnetic interference.
This was also the first space flight from New Mexico (the third U.S. state to be launched into space by humans) —Virgin Galactic plans to make all of its commercial flights from Spaceport America with the goal of launching 400 flights a year.
Before the big year: In many ways, 2021 is a year to make or break for Virgin Galactic. It was founded in 2004 by Richard Branson in hopes of making it space tourism a reality. But the company has been constantly plagued by developmental delays and some high-level failures (the first SpaceShipTwo that caused the pilot’s death in October 2014 is still horrific in people’s minds). To reach companies 400 flights a year, he will have to prove that he can fly quickly, consistently and safely.
To do so, Virgin Galactic plans to take manned missions into space three more times this year – once as a pilot with two pilots and four company employees, once as a Branson passenger and once as a commercial flight for the Italian Air Force. This latest mission will be the first time Virgin Galactic has taken the customer into space and should bring in $ 2 million in revenue. The company could also try out the SpaceShipThree flight planes it recently unveiled this summer. All of this activity is expected to set the company up for commercial operations next year.
Meanwhile, the main competition for the Virgin Galactic space tourism market, Blue Origin, plans to launch a crew mission into space for the first time on July 20, when a team of six members will take a Shepard New vehicle into suborbital space.
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