Richard Branson and Crew Reaches Space Aboard VSS Unity

New Mexico, July 12: Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, became the first person to reach space in Virgin Galactic’s Unity 22 mission on Sunday, 11th July 2021. He flew with 5 crew members aboard his own spaceship, VSS Unity. VSS Unity is a sub-orbital rocket- powered crewed spaceship built by The Spaceship Company (a subsidiary of Virgin Galactic – space tourism company).

VSS Unity reached an altitude of 53 miles (88 km) over the New Mexico desert and experienced weightlessness for 3- 4 minutes. The crew observed the curvature of the Earth and then started their return journey. The ride to the space and back took less than 60 minutes. A twin fuselage aircraft (an aircraft with two main bodies) lifted VSS Unity in the initial flight. It then separated from the aircraft at an altitude of 8.5 miles (13 km) and fired its engines. It flew at Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) to reach the edge of the space.

Jeff Bezos flight to space aboard his spaceship the New Shepard (built by his space company Blue Origins) is scheduled on the 52nd anniversary of Apollo 11 moon landing on 20th July, 2021.