Virgin Galactic sends Richard Branson to edge of space

SAN FRANCISCO: Heralding a new space tourism era, Virgin Galactic's billionaire CEO Richard Branson on Sunday flew to the edge of space with three employees, including one of Indian-origin, leaving Jeff Bezos to follow his route on July 20.

Branson flew aboard his Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spaceplane, along with three company employees to the edge of space a little after 10:30 a.m. ET (8.00 pm India time).

The 70-year-old arrived on a bike at the Spaceport America, the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport located in Southern New Mexico. Virgin Galactic's twin-fuselage WhiteKnight carrier aircraft carries the rocket-powered spaceship VSS Unity.

Besides Branson, the flight includes Beth Moses, Chief Astronaut Instructor and Colin Bennett, lead Operations Engineer and Indian-origin Sirisha Bandla, vice president of government affairs at Virgin Galactic. It is to be noted that Bandla will be the third Indian American in space after Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Pandya Williams and the fourth person of Indian descent — the first being Rakesh Sharma, who flew on a Soviet spacecraft. During the 90-minute space flight, Bandla is scheduled to conduct experiments designed by the government's pioneer space agency, NASA involving plants in microgravity.

Moses serves as cabin lead and test director in space, overseeing the safe and efficient execution of the test flight objectives, while Bennett will evaluate cabin equipment, procedures, and experience during both the boost phase and in the weightless environment.

The pilots are Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci flying VSS Unity, and CJ Sturckow and Kelly Latimer flying VMS Eve.

About 40 minutes after takeoff, Unity dropped from the middle of the mothership and ignited its rocket engine moments later to send Branson and the crew to the edge of space, about 89 kms high, for a few minutes of weightlessness. (IANS)

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