In Las Cruces, New Mexico, the anticipation is palpable as Virgin Galactic gears up for its seventh commercial spaceflight. Scheduled to launch on Saturday, the mission, dubbed Galactic 07, will take off from Spaceport America in southwestern New Mexico at 8:30am MT (10:30 a.m. EDT or 1430 GMT).
The crew for Galactic 07 will consist of Axiom Space Mission 3 (Ax-3) backup astronaut Tuva Atasever from the Turkish Space Agency, alongside three private astronauts whose identities are usually kept confidential until the launch itself. However, Virgin Galactic has revealed that one of the private astronauts hails from California, another from New York, and the third from Italy.
This upcoming mission marks Virgin Galactic’s second flight of 2024, following the success of Galactic 06 earlier in the year, which saw the first Ukrainian woman venture into suborbital space. With tickets usually priced at $450,000, passengers aboard Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane are treated to a brief experience of weightlessness and a spectacular view of Earth.
Commanding VSS Unity, the suborbital space plane, will be Commander Nicola Pecile and pilot Jameel Janjua. Meanwhile, Commander Andy Edgell and pilot C.J. Sturckow will be at the helm of VMS Eve, the mothership aircraft responsible for carrying Unity to high altitudes before release and rocket engine ignition.
Aside from the thrill of space travel, the suborbital flight will also carry research payloads from Purdue University and University of California, Berkeley. Purdue’s experiment focuses on propellant slosh in maneuvering spacecraft fuel tanks, while U.C. Berkeley will test a new form of 3D printing in microgravity.
Virgin Galactic’s partnership with Axiom Space, a Houston-based private spaceflight company, has been instrumental in advancing access to space and fostering scientific discovery. Axiom Space has completed three crewed trips to the International Space Station and is preparing for its fourth mission, Ax-4, tentatively scheduled for October. The collaboration between Virgin Galactic and Axiom Space underscores a shared commitment to expanding opportunities beyond Earth.
In light of a previous incident during a January mission where an alignment pin detached unexpectedly from VMS Eve after Unity separation, Virgin Galactic has implemented corrective measures to ensure the safety and success of Galactic 07. Both Virgin Galactic and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration conducted investigations into the issue, reinforcing their dedication to enhancing safety protocols for future missions.