Current:Home > BackVirgin Galactic all set to fly its first tourists to the edge of space-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Virgin Galactic all set to fly its first tourists to the edge of space
View Date:2025-01-12 13:32:30
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) — Virgin Galactic is taking its first space tourists on a long-delayed rocket ship ride, including a former British Olympian who bought his ticket 18 years ago and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean.
The flight window opens Thursday morning at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert for a ride to the edge of space. If all goes well, Richard Branson’s company will begin offering monthly trips to customers on its winged space plane, joining Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the space tourism business.
Virgin Galactic passenger Jon Goodwin, who was among the first to buy a ticket in 2005, said he had faith that he would someday make the trip. The 80-year-old athlete — he competed in canoeing in the 1972 Olympics — has Parkinson’s disease and wants to be an inspiration to others.
“I hope it shows them that these obstacles can be the start rather than the end to new adventures,” he said in a statement.
Ticket prices were $200,000 when Goodwin signed up. The cost is now $450,000.
He’ll be joined by sweepstakes winner Keisha Schahaff, 46, a health coach from Antigua, and her daughter, Anastatia Mayers, 18, student at Scotland’s University of Aberdeen. Also aboard the plane-launched craft, which glides to a space shuttle-like landing: two pilots and the company’s astronaut trainer.
It will be Virgin Galactic’s seventh trip to space since 2018, the first with a ticket-holder. Branson, the company’s founder, hopped on board for the first full-size crew ride in 2021. Italian military and government researchers soared in June on the first commercial flight. About 800 people are currently on Virgin Galactic’s waiting list, according to the company.
Virgin Galactic’s rocket ship launches from the belly of an airplane, not from the ground, and requires two pilots in the cockpit. Once the mothership reaches about 50,000 feet (10 miles or 15 kilometers), the space plane is released and fires its rocket motor to make the final push to just over 50 miles (80 kilometers) up. Passengers can unstrap from their seats, float around the cabin for a few minutes and take in the sweeping views of Earth, before the space plane glides back home and lands on a runway.
___
This story has been updated to correct that Goodwin paid $200,000 for his ticket, not $250,000.
___
Dunn reported from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
veryGood! (4)
Related
- Women suing over Idaho’s abortion ban describe dangerous pregnancies, becoming ‘medical refugees’
- Actor Lukas Gage and hairstylist Chris Appleton will divorce after 6 months of marriage
- Officials name a new president for Mississippi’s largest historically Black university
- Swifties, Travis Kelce Is Now in the Singing Game: Listen to His Collab With Brother Jason
- AIT Community Introduce
- AP Week in Pictures: Global | Nov. 10 - Nov. 16, 2023
- Former U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says defeating Hamas means dealing with Iran once and for all
- Cutting a teaspoon of salt is comparable to taking blood pressure medication
- 'Survivor' 47, Episode 9: Jeff Probst gave players another shocking twist. Who went home?
- 'The Crown' shines in its final season — just remember it's not the History Channel
Ranking
- Jason Statham Shares Rare Family Photos of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Their Kids on Vacation
- Dog of missing Colorado hiker found dead lost half her body weight when standing by his side
- New York lawmakers demand Rep. George Santos resign immediately
- Supreme Court leaves in place pause on Florida law banning kids from drag shows
- Voyager 2 is the only craft to visit Uranus. Its findings may have misled us for 40 years.
- Why Mariah Carey Doesn’t Have a Driver’s License
- Suspect in custody after a person was shot and killed outside court in Colorado Springs, police say
- Man accused of abducting, beating woman over 4-day period pleads not guilty
Recommendation
-
Louisiana asks court to block part of ruling against Ten Commandments in classrooms
-
Argentina’s Peronist machine is in high gear to shore up shaky votes before the presidential runoff
-
Meat made from cells, not livestock, is here. But will it ever replace traditional meat?
-
'Pivotal milestone': Astronomers find clouds made of sand on distant planet
-
Martha Stewart playfully pushes Drew Barrymore away in touchy interview
-
AP PHOTOS: Pastoralists in Senegal raise livestock much as their ancestors did centuries ago
-
NYC will pay $17.5 million to man who was wrongly convicted of 1996 murders
-
California family sues sheriff’s office after deputy kidnapped girl, killed her mother, grandparents