Virgin Galactic completes first commercial flight in major step for space tourism company

• Altitude at release: 44,500 feet
• Maximum altitude (apogee) of spaceflight: 52.9 miles (279,312 feet or 85.1 kilometers)
• Top speed: Mach 2.88 (2,210 miles per hour)

— Michael Sheetz

Virgin Galactic ends the post-flight press conference with the Galactic 01 crew.

— Michael Sheetz

Villadei said the acceleration of Virgin Galactic's spacecraft, which puts about three Gs of force on passengers, was "a good experience" for preparing to launch on SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, which pulls about four to five Gs.

He is training with U.S. company Axiom Space for a launch on a future SpaceX mission.

— Michael Sheetz

Villadei says microgravity flight opportunities for the international community have "nothing in between" flying on aircraft for parabolic flights or going to the ISS for six months.

He emphasized the importance of how Virgin Galactic "can really support" and be "really beneficial to us" in offering this type of research.

— Michael Sheetz

Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei says it was "a beautiful ride" up to the release point. The microgravity experience went by "very fast," but overall, the flight was "an unforgettable experience."

— Michael Sheetz

Virgin Galactic is beginning its Galactic 01 post-flight press conference, with three of the four flight passengers expected to speak:

• Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei
• Italian Air Force Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi
• National Research Council of Italy engineer Pantaleone Carlucci

— Michael Sheetz

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson certainly got his money's worth from the space tourism company he set up in 2004.

Virgin Galactic spent more than $1 billion developing its system before going public in 2019, but since the company's public trading debut, Branson has sold the majority of his stake in the company, held through his Virgin Investments group. The sales have netted him more than $1.4 billion.

In statements, Branson's parent company Virgin Group has said that the billionaire sold the shares to support his "portfolio of global leisure, holiday and travel businesses that continue to be affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to supporting the development and growth of new and existing businesses."

Additionally, Branson achieved his dream of flying to space in July 2021, riding on the company's fourth test spaceflight.

Branson called the spaceflight the "complete experience of a lifetime." He launched just nine days before fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos flew to space in his company Blue Origin's rocket.

– Michael Sheetz

Along with the two pilots and four passengers, "Galactic 01" carried 13 scientific research payloads to space. The experiments included studies of biomedicine, microgravity materials, radiation testing and more.

Virgin Galactic flew the research on behalf of the Italian Air Force, Italy's National Research Council, the University of Padova and the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

The payloads:

1. Liulin-CNR-VG
2. Doosy-CNR-VG
3. droP Impact iN micro-Gravity (PING)
4. Italian Combustion Experiment – Suborbital Flight (ICE – SF)
5. TetRafluoroethAne sPonge (TRAP)
6. Cabin Air Quality (CAQ)
7. SHApe Recovery of Composite Structures (SUNRISE-VG01-SHARCS)
8. TESting in Space (SUNRISE-VG02-TESIS)
9. Scientific-Health Area Experiments (Neural Plasticity and Space Motion Sickness)
10. Smart Flight Suit 1 (SFS1)
11. ECG Holter Monitoring
12. Passenger's Comfortability
13. Pre and post flight ground activities (Effects of Microgravity on Oxy-Inflammation Related to Circadian Clock, Spaceflight MRI Project, and Evaluation of Endothelial Function in Personnel Exposed to Microgravity During Suborbital Flight Activity)

– Michael Sheetz

Virgin Galactic plans to host a post-flight press conference with the Galactic 01 crew. Prior to the flight, the press conference was scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.

– Michael Sheetz

Completion of the "Galactic 01" mission comes at a crucial moment in the history of Virgin Galactic, nearly 20 years after the company's founding.

The spaceflight marks the company's start of commercial service, with Virgin Galactic now set to begin flying the backlog of 800 passengers who have long waited for their opportunity.

Pending a review of the vehicles and the flight's data, Virgin Galactic hopes to launch its second customer spaceflight in August.

The company is heavily investing in expansion of its spacecraft fleet. While it had about $900 million in cash and securities on hand at the end of the first quarter, Virgin Galactic recently announced the completion of a $300 million "at the market" common stock raise, as well as the beginning of another $400 million raise.

– Michael Sheetz

Spacecraft VSS Unity returned to land, gliding in to the runway at Spaceport America, to complete the Galactic 01 spaceflight.

– Michael Sheetz

Virgin Galactic stock fell as much as 10% in trading after the spacecraft finished its time in microgravity and began gliding back for landing.

– Michael Sheetz

The Italian passengers unfurl the nation's flag while floating inside the spacecraft.

– Michael Sheetz

Launch!

VSS Unity has been released from the carrier aircraft and the spacecraft is firing its rocket engine.

– Michael Sheetz

"Galactic 01" comes in the middle of the stock trading day, and Virgin Galactic's stock is little changed, but with heavy volume.

Shares of Virgin Galactic are down about 1%, with more than 31 million shares traded so far today – already exceeding its 30-day average volume of about 28 million shares.

Virgin Galactic stock is up more than 30% so far year to date. But, at its previous close of $4.74 a share, the stock is well off the highs it hit in 2021 of nearly $50 a share. That peak came in the months leading up to when founder Richard Branson flew on a test spaceflight.

– Michael Sheetz

Space tourism is a fledgling piece of the overall space economy, and "Galactic 01" represents Virgin Galactic's official debut into that sub-sector.

There are three U.S. companies flying private passengers to space, although the experience differs significantly between the companies.

Both Branson's Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin fly passengers on sub-orbital trips, where passengers experiencing a couple minutes of weightlessness.

While Elon Musk's SpaceX flies passengers to orbit, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. Those trips typically see passengers spend multiple days or weeks in space.

– Michael Sheetz

Virgin Galactic has spent quite a lot of time and money to design the interior of the spacecraft to be enjoyable for passengers as they float in microgravity, since the vehicle effectively transforms from aircraft to spacecraft and back to aircraft during the flight.

– Michael Sheetz

"Galactic 01" is airborne! VMS Eve just took off moments ago, and will now carry VSS Unity up to its release point altitude.

– Michael Sheetz

Carrier aircraft VMS Eve and spacecraft VSS Unity are on the move, taxiing on the runway at Spaceport America. They're expected to take off in a few minutes.

– Michael Sheetz

Virgin Galactic's carrier aircraft VMS Eve will take off after the company's livestream begins at 11 a.m. ET, carrying the spacecraft VSS Unity up to its launch point.

Typically, VMS Eve ascends for about 45 minutes, up to an altitude above 40,000 feet. Once in position, the aircraft releases VSS Unity, which then fires its rocket engine for about 60 seconds to fly into microgravity, giving passengers on board a couple minutes of weightlessness.

In total, the flights last about 90 minutes from when VMS Eve takes off to the time VSS Unity touches back down.

– Michael Sheetz

The company's pair of vehicles is carrying eight people in total: four pilots and four passengers.

Carrier aircraft VMS Eve is flown by American commander Kelly Latimer and Canadian pilot Jameel Janjua.

Spacecraft VSS Unity is flown by American commander Mike "Sooch" Masucci and Italian pilot Nicola Pecile.

The four passengers inside Unity are Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor Colin Bennett, Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei, Italian Air Force Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi and National Research Council of Italy engineer Pantaleone Carlucci.

— Michael Sheetz

The company uses a two-step system known as "air launch" to fly its passengers on a suborbital spaceflight. 

This type of spaceflight gives passengers a couple of minutes of weightlessness, unlike the much longer, more difficult and more expensive private orbital flights conducted by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

After the jet-powered carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, carries the spacecraft into position, the rocket-powered VSS Unity is released and fires its engine to climb past an altitude of 80 kilometers, or about 262,000 feet. That altitude is what the U.S. recognizes as the boundary of space.

VSS Unity then slowly rotates in microgravity before returning in a glide, to touch down on the Spaceport America runway.

— Michael Sheetz