Virgin Galactic Carries Out a Suborbital Test Flight with The VSS in October 2020

Serial entrepreneur Richard Branson, is about to head to space early in 2021 if all the tests of his company Virgin Galactic space flights are a success. It is truly the era for space tourism to grow.

So far, the spacecraft had two tests of the ship in December 2018 and two months later they had their second trial flight. Both of which were a success. Both test flights included the SpaceShipTwo vehicle destined for a suborbital journey.

One of the company’s two aircrafts will have two pilots on board managing the ship on that set date. The company stated that the second trial onboard would be four mission experts to document the whole rocket launch experience. After the second trial passes, that’s when the Virgin Galactic founder will get to see space.

What is the rocket launch plan?

The company plans that a rocket launch might happen soon after the test on 22nd October if all goes as planned. The WhiteKnightTwo is scheduled for a four-hour long test flight on the first and seventh days of October.

The Virgin Galactic’s spaceport in New Mexico will host the next take-off, and it will be the first of its kind. The previous ones happened in California.

History in space tourism

Three victorious SpaceShipOne flights in 2004 revived the very idea of space travel and prompted the founding of Virgin Galactic, which is centred on space tourism. The ship won 10 million US dollars as a prize for the accomplishment.

In 2014, a tragic rocket launch crash took the life of the pilot who was on board the SpaceShipTwo craft.

Space travel dates back to the 80s, and NASA was responsible for all of these journeys. A group of people, including Charlie Walker, went on three of those missions and he fully funded his trips at forty thousand dollars per trip.

In 1990 Toyohiro Akiyama, a tv journalist, took a trip into space to the Mir Space Station. Dennis Tito is known as the first space tourist who made it to space for seven days, fully funded by himself. 

That being said, space tourism is not so new, but it is finally getting its focus.