Virgin Galacticsuccessfully brought its first examination rider to blank space today in the troupe ’s second attempt with SpaceShipTwo in 10 weeks – the 5th attempt overall – to make place , this clock time hit high altitudes and flying speeds than ever before .
The three - person crowd includes Chief Pilot Dave Mackay , the 569th person to travel to place and the first Scottish - have a bun in the oven spaceman , Pilot Mike “ Sooch ” Masucci ( 570th ) , as well as Chief Astronaut Instructor and the first fair sex to fly aboard a commercial spaceship , Beth Moses ( 571st ) . It marks not only the first metre that a non - pilot fly onboard a commercial spaceship to space but also the first prison term three the great unwashed headed off – one of whom swim freely without restraints .
“ Beth , Sooch and I just enjoyed a pretty amazing flight of steps which was beyond anything any of us has ever experience . It was thrilling yet smooth and nicely control throughout with a view at the top , of the Earth from space , which exceeded all our expectation … For the three of us today this was the fulfillment of womb-to-tomb ambitions , but paradoxically is also just the beginning of an escapade which we ca n’t wait to portion out with thousands of others , ” say Mackay in astatement .
Moses fell as the third crew penis to allow for a real - time rating of cabin dynamic . The SpaceShipTwo attain anapogeeof 89.9 klick ( 55.87 miles ) , move at a 3.04 Mach on the way to space – three times the speed of sound . Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson says the successful trajectory continues to “ expand the flight envelope ” .
“ take Beth vanish in the cabin today , starting to ensure that our customer journeying is as flawless as the starship itself , brings a Brobdingnagian sense of anticipation and excitement to all of us here who are expect forward to live space for ourselves . The next few calendar month promise to be the most thrilling yet,”saidBranson .
The crew have several minutes of lightness while admiring out - of - this - globe persuasion of Earth from the black backdrop of space . Moses float through the cabin while she lead her rating tests via sensors , in addition to live examination of physical elements to see a safe and pleasurable client experience . All this , while the pilots “ feather ” the spaceship to prep for its Mach 2.7 re - entry .
SpaceShip2 landed safely back on Earth at Mojave Airport after its second tripper to space at around 9 am local time on Friday , February 22 , 2019 .
