At the start of this month, Virgin Galactic made an announcement about partnering up with two Italian aerospace companies in order to be the first group to launch someone in space from Europe.
Now, the company did it; it launched the VSS Unity on a rocket-powered supersonic flight and managed to fly it higher than the previous two test flights, reaching Mach 2 speeds during the 42 second rocket burn.
Credit: Video From Space/ YouTube
The ultimate goal is for the VSS Unity to reach a maximum velocity of Mach 3.5, or greater, which will offer a few minutes of microgravity to potential space tourists.
The company did not release any official statements concerning the next flight of the VSS Unity; for now their main focus will be to analyze the post-flight data.
Company officials though are confident in the fact that the Unity will have its ‘spaceflight’ happening sometime this year. Needless to say we’re more than a little excited at the prospect of it even if, let’s be honest, most of us won’t be able to afford it.
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