Virgin Galactic allowed to conduct commercial space flights with people

Virgin Galactic has received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration to conduct commercial space flights with customers. The company wants to do three more test flights before it starts commercial flights.

Virgin Galactic’s current commercial space transport license has been extended by the FAA, allowing Virgin to go into space with space flight participants. This makes Virgin Galactic the first ‘spaceline’ to be licensed by the FAA to fly with customers. Virgin Galactic has had a commercial space transport license since 2016.

The aviation company also states that based on further investigation, the test of May 22 was successful. It was the third manned test flight with the VSS Unity and the first space flight from Spaceport America in New Mexico. On that flight, the VSS Unity reached a speed of Mach 3, or 3704 km/h, and reached space at an altitude of 89 kilometers.

Virgin Galactic now plans to conduct three more test flights, with a first ‘fully-manned’ test flight this summer. The ultimate plan is to take tourists to the edge of space on the VSS Unity, where they will experience weightlessness for a few minutes and then return to Earth. VSS Unity is first launched into the air via the VMS Eve, after which Unity disconnects and continues to ascend.