Virgin Galactic revealed that VMS Eve, the carrier for VSS Unity, returned to the air for the first time after being in suspended animation for 16 months. Space tourism is even closer.
Virgin Galactic announced that VMS Eve had completed its flight test from the Mojave space airport in California, United States of America, on Wednesday (15/2) local time. The iron bird flew for 2.5 hours and was able to reach a height of about 41,500 feet or about 12,650 meters from the surface.
The successful flight test of the VMS Eve is good news, because the plane last took off at the end of October 2021.
It was stated that during the 'suspended animation', VMS Eve continued to make a series of modifications and improvements so that space tourism missions could run smoothly in the future.
"One thing we're going to do is take it out, without any spacecraft attached to it, to an altitude, cold dive to make sure everything is operating in the frigid temperatures. Then, we activate the latch normally attached to the spacecraft and collect data on how it performs," said Virgin Galactic's Senior Flight Test Director, Kelly Latimer, quoted from Space, Friday (17/2/2023).
Going forward, the company owned by Richard Branson will continue to improve the aircraft by carrying out more tests, starting from combining the aircraft carrier and spacecraft.
"Including more ground testing, launch and powered flight to complete the required validation of the vehicle modification," Virgin Galactic said.
For information, VMS Eve is an important part of the VSS Unity spacecraft which will later be 'attached' to VMS Eve. At a certain altitude, Virgin Galactic is released which then hurtles into outer space. Passengers in it can feel the sensation of being in a vacuum, including floating in it.
In May 2022, Virgin Galactic is preparing to open a space travel service. In the announcement at that time, the company said it was continuing to address all issues related to the supply chain and workforce.
For those who are interested in space tourism offered by Virgin Galactic, you must have USD 450 thousand equivalent for one trip.
Even though the price is exorbitant, the company claims that currently there are many people lining up to enjoy the space tour. As many as 800 people have ordered to feel the instant sensation of being in space.
Virgin Galactic's first fully manned space flight will take place in July 2021. At that time, founder Richard Branson immediately tried it. The company has briefly reopened ticket sales to customers twice since the flight then, raising prices from the flight level by USD 250 thousand.