Virgin Galactic to launch commercial space tourism service with late June flight

Virgin Galactic aims to motorboat its commercialized abstraction tourism work successful precocious June.

The institution connected Thursday said the flight, called Galactic 01, is targeting a motorboat model that opens June 27 and runs to June 30. Virgin Galactic past plans for its 2nd commercialized formation to travel successful "early August," with "monthly" commercialized flights aft that.

Galactic 01 volition transportation 3 members of the Italian Air Force to behaviour microgravity probe with subject payloads.

The institution completed its last trial spaceflight successful May and said Thursday that it completed "routine investigation and conveyance inspections" of its bearer craft VMS Eve and spacecraft VSS Unity.

Virgin Galactic's archetypal commercialized spaceflight has been a long-awaited milestone for the institution to statesman flying its backlog of astir 800 passengers. The institution was founded successful 2004 by billionaire Richard Branson. The June motorboat volition besides statesman moving Virgin Galactic toward showing it tin alert commercialized flights regularly, which is crucial to its semipermanent success.

"We are launching the archetypal commercialized spaceline for Earth with 2 dynamic products — our technological probe and backstage astronaut abstraction missions," Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said successful a statement.