Virgin Galactic reaches space after historic test flight. (December 13, 2018).
For the first time since the final space shuttle mission launched in 2011, U.S. astronauts reached space from American soil earlier today with the most recent test flight of Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity.
Carried to an altitude of 13,100 meters by the VMS Eve mothership, Unity burned its single engine for the longest duration in its test program. The 60-second burn propelled the vehicle to a top speed of Mach 2.9 and an altitude of 83 kilometers, just above the 80 kilometer boundary of space recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration.

VSS Unity was piloted by four time shuttle astronaut and Virgin Galactic pilot Rick ‘CJ’ Sturckow and copilot Mark Stucky. The VMS EVE/Unity duo took off at 10:10am EST, with SpaceShipTwo dropping at 10:59AM and infighting its rocket motor. The pilots landed the Unity back at the Mojave spaceport at 11:14am, fifteen minutes after their powered flight began.
‘Space is Virgin territory’
Following the vehicle’s touchdown and debarkation of the pilots, Virgin founder Richard Branson stated: “Today, for the first time in history, a crewed spaceship, built to carry private passengers, reached space. Today we completed our first revenue-generating flight and our pilots earned their commercial astronaut wings. Today, we have shown that Virgin Galactic really can open space to change the world for good. Space is Virgin territory!”
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson reacting to the announcement that the VSS Unity reached the boundary of space December 13, 2018. Credit: Virgin Galactic.
Today’s flight fulfills a statement Branson made to CNN Business last week that Virgin Galactic would fly people in space by Christmas. It also is the culmination of fourteen years of work Branson and his affiliates have put into SpaceShipTwo since its predecessor, SpaceShipOne, won the Ansari X-prize to become the first commercial spacecraft to reach space in 2004.
Launching tourists and experiments over satellites.
Commercial space transportation companies such as SpaceX and Boeing have been developing orbital spacecraft that would launch astronauts to Low Earth orbit and the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Crew program.
Virgin Galactic is not participating in that program, but aims to transport paying customers on a brief suborbital flight providing stunning views of the Earth’s curvature and up to four minutes of weightlessness.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is the closest direct competitor to Virgin’s space tourism endeavors with their New Shepard rocket, which has completed nine successful test flights in the past three years.
There has been a growing movement in the aerospace industry the last few months to redefine the boundary of space by altering the Karman line - the current, 100-kilometer boundary of space defined by theoretical physicist Theodore von Karman in 1956.

Analyses published by various astronomers and scientists argue that the conditions which affect a spacecraft’s flight, orbit, and operation begin at 80 kilometers in altitude, not 100.
Branson reaffirmed the company’s victory following this morning’s test flight by stating ’space is Virgin territory.’
While operational SpaceShipTwo flights will include up to six paying passengers, today’s flight included four scientific payloads as part of NASA’s Flight Opportunities program.
The experiments measured the effects of microgravity on dust collisions, multi-phase flow systems, plant growth, and vibration isolation systems.
P/c: Virgin Galactic