Virgin Galactic made its first truly commercial flight on Thursday, carrying at least one passenger who had paid to become a space tourist. Jon Goodwin, who was one of the first to buy a ticket for VSS Unity in 2005, has 'only' had to wait 18 years. So this former Olympian paid $250,000, but the ones for sale now are almost double this price and are $450,000. This 80-year-old British Olympian competed in canoeing in 1972, he has Parkinson's disease and thought that for this reason they were not going to allow him to fly, but he assured that with his space travel he wants to be an inspiration to others.
The crew of this Galactic 02 – as Virgin Galactic has baptized this flight – was completed by a mother and her daughter. They are Keisha Schahaff, 46, a health coach from Antigua and Barbuda - who won the ticket for both in a raffle - and her daughter, Anastatia Mayers, 18, a student at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland . Schahaff is the first Caribbean woman to become an astronaut, while her daughter became the youngest person to ever be in space on Thursday. The event had a great impact in Antigua and Barbuda, as even the Prime Minister of this Caribbean island intervened during the live broadcast of the flight.
In addition, on this occasion in the cabin of the ship there were a majority of women, since the crew was completed by the Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor, Beth Moses, and the VSS Unity pilot, Kelly Latimer.
Liftoff from Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America facility in the New Mexico desert – where astronauts have spent the last two days training – went smoothly and VSS Unity was lifted to 14,000 meters 'towed' by VMS Eve. . At 5:21 p.m. in Spain, it released the spacecraft that ignited its rockets that allowed it to reach a speed of up to 2.9 Match, and the passengers to experience a force of up to 3G. The ship, in just over two minutes, rose to 85 km above the Earth's surface, where it remained for just over three minutes, practically in a vertical position. During this time, the lucky passengers enjoyed zero gravity and views on Earth that very few people have been able to enjoy.
When it was time to return to Earth, and during Virgin Galactic's live broadcast of the flight, Beth Moses was seen helping Jon Goodwin back into his seat and into the seat belts.
Finally, VSSUnity touched down on the ground again at 17:38. A very short flight, very expensive and only within the reach of very few, but there are already 800 people who have paid the price of the ticket and who are waiting their turn on one of the next missions. Virgin Galactic has promised to make a flight like the one on Thursday once a month.
