Virgin Galactic Sets Date, Announces Crew For Its First Commercial Spaceflight

Two years after Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Galactic, blasted into space aboard the VSS Unity for a journey to the edge of space, his company is on the verge of attempting its first-ever fully commercial space flight. 

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If things go according to plan, Virgin Galactic will send three Italian citizens on a 90-minute trip to the edge of space on January 29, 2023. For this flight, Virgin Galactic will use the same spacecraft Richard Branson used for his maiden flight in 2021 — the VSS Unity. The company also has named this flight mission "Galactic 01."

While the 90-minute flight time may sound short, Virgin Galactic says that it is long enough for the crew to conduct as many as 13 human-tended and autonomous experiments aboard the craft, mostly related to biomedicine thermo-fluid dynamics. The passengers will also help Virgin Galactic collect data using sensors they will wear for the entire flight. While Virgin Galactic has set June 29 as the date for this mission, the company has set aside a reserve day (June 30) should weather conditions or technical issues delay the launch.

As with Branson's first flight in 2021, the mission will take off from SpacePort America in New Mexico — which is touted as "the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport" owned by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. While the Galactic 01 mission is touted as the company's first commercial spaceflight, in the past the company has made crewless commercial flights that carried research payloads.

Contrary to other privately funded space flights, the VSS Unity's Galactic 01 flight is a science-oriented mission funded by the Italian Government, and mostly manned by an Italian crew. The country even has a different name for the mission and calls it the "Virtute 1." The crew for this mission includes members from the Italian Air Force and the country's National Research Council.

Leading the three-member Italian crew for this mission is Col. Walter Villadei — who serves as the mission commander. Col Walter is using this mission as a training exercise for a future mission to the International Space Station, and is also the person who will be wearing a custom-built suit for the research set to be carried out on this mission. 

The second crew member is Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi, a doctor by profession and has a doctorate in Legal Medicine and Forensic science. Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer at the National Research Council of Italy, will join the duo as well.

Besides the three Italians, Galactic 01 also includes a fourth member — Colin Bennett — who will be the lead astronaut instructor. Colin was also a crew member of the famous VSS 1 flight with Richard Branson in 2021. While Virgin Galactic encountered some issues leading up to its first-ever commercial spaceflight, there is no denying this is an exciting development in space tourism.

For those interested in tracking the mission, Virgin Galactic will live stream the launch via its website starting 11 a.m. ET on June 29.