A crew of three specialists from Italy will board a rocket plane Thursday bound for the edges of space in the first commercial flight for billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism company.
The two Italian Air Force officers and an aerospace engineer from the National Research Council of Italy are prepared to embark on 90-minute flight to conduct a series of suborbital scientific experiments, the company said in a media release. The crew will be joined by a Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor and the spaceplane’s pilots for a flight dubbed Galactic 101.
The impending mission represents the dawn of commercial space travel for private citizens with deep pockets who can afford the hefty $450,000 price to purchase a ticket aboard one of Branson’s rockets. Following today’s planned scientific excursion above the New Mexico desert, commercial space flights for ticket holders will then begin in August and continue monthly, the company has said.
More:What does the Titanic submersible implosion mean for extreme tourism?
How to watch the launch
Virgin Galactic will offer a livestream of the spaceflight on its website, virgingalactic.com.
The livestream will become available around 11 a.m. EST.
Who will be on board?
The crew consists of two members of the Italian Air Force: Col. Walter Villadei, who will be wearing a smart suit to measure his biometric data and physiological responses; and Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi, a physician who will conduct tests to measure cognitive performance and how liquids and solids mix in microgravity.
Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer with the National Research Council of Italy, will also be aboard to conduct tests that involve wearing sensors to examine his heart rate, brain function and other metrics.
Colin Bennet, a Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor who carried out the training and preparation for the mission, will also fly with the crew.
The crew are aboard the VSS Unity, which is piloted by Mike Masucci and Nicola Pecile, according…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply