by Virgin Galactic plans to launch its sixth commercial spaceflight today (Jan. 26).
That mission, called Galactic 06, will send four private passengers to suborbital space and back.
It's scheduled to lift off from Spaceport America in New Mexico today during a window that opens at noon EST (1700 GMT; 10 a.m. local New Mexico time).
As of Thursday afternoon (Jan. 25), Virgin Galactic had not revealed the identities of the Galactic 06 passengers, giving only their home nations and/or states.
One is from Texas, one is from California, one is an Austrian and the other hails from Nevada and Ukraine, according to the company.
That fourth passenger will be the first Ukrainian woman to reach space, Virgin Galactic representatives said in an emailed statement.
The Galactic 06 crew will ride aboard the VSS Unity space plane, which will lift off from Spaceport America beneath the wings of a carrier craft called VMS Eve.
Eve will drop Unity at an altitude of about 45,000 feet (13,700 meters), at which point the space plane will ignite its rocket motor and head up to suborbital space.
Unity's passengers will experience a few minutes of weightlessness and get to see their home planet against the blackness of space before coming down to Earth for a runway landing at Spaceport America.
Tickets to ride the six-passenger Unity currently cost $400,000.
Source
That mission, called Galactic 06, will send four private passengers to suborbital space and back.
It's scheduled to lift off from Spaceport America in New Mexico today during a window that opens at noon EST (1700 GMT; 10 a.m. local New Mexico time).
As of Thursday afternoon (Jan. 25), Virgin Galactic had not revealed the identities of the Galactic 06 passengers, giving only their home nations and/or states.
One is from Texas, one is from California, one is an Austrian and the other hails from Nevada and Ukraine, according to the company.
That fourth passenger will be the first Ukrainian woman to reach space, Virgin Galactic representatives said in an emailed statement.
The Galactic 06 crew will ride aboard the VSS Unity space plane, which will lift off from Spaceport America beneath the wings of a carrier craft called VMS Eve.
Eve will drop Unity at an altitude of about 45,000 feet (13,700 meters), at which point the space plane will ignite its rocket motor and head up to suborbital space.
Unity's passengers will experience a few minutes of weightlessness and get to see their home planet against the blackness of space before coming down to Earth for a runway landing at Spaceport America.
Tickets to ride the six-passenger Unity currently cost $400,000.
Source
