Thursday's 90-minute flight profile is expected to follow the sequence Unity flew two years ago and again in May.
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Masucci and Nicola Pecile, who formerly held the same rank in the Italian air force. Unity will be operated by two Virgin Galactic pilots - retired U.S. Taking the fourth passenger seat is their Virgin Galactic trainer, Colin Bennett, who earned his astronaut wings on the July 2021 flight with Branson as the company's lead operations engineer. Joining him on Thursday are two Italian colleagues - Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Landolfi, a physician and flight surgeon, and Pantaleone Carlucci, a research council member acting as flight engineer and payload specialist. ITALIAN RESEARCH MISSIONįor Italian Air Force Colonel Walter Villadei, the flight is also part of his astronaut training for a future mission to the International Space Station. The mission of the Italian team flying on Thursday, however, was touted as a scientific one, with the three men planning to collect biometric data, measure cognitive performance and record how certain liquids and solids mix in microgravity conditions. Virgin Galactic is one of a handful of private ventures, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, catering to wealthy would-be citizen astronauts willing to pay large sums of money to experience the exhilaration of supersonic rocket speed, weightlessness and the spectacle of spaceflight. A final crewed test flight to space was conducted successfully but with less fanfare five weeks ago. But completion of the test campaign took longer than anticipated after federal regulators grounded the rocket plane for 11 weeks while the company was under investigation for deviating from its assigned airspace on ascent during the July 2021 flight. The flight, dubbed Galactic 01, comes two years after Branson himself rode along with five other Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc SPCE.N personnel for the company's first fully crewed test spaceflight of its rocket plane, VSS Unity.īack then, Virgin Galactic officials said they expected to begin regular commercial operations in 2022 following additional test flights.
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