Miami (EFE)
The flight departed at around 10:30 a.m. local time (2:30 p.m. GMT) from Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic’s base, in southern New Mexico (USA), and an hour later the VSS Unity spacecraft separated from its mother ship, VMS Eve, to continue on its own the rest of the way and while it was about 13.7 kilometers high.
VSS Unity then fired its engines for about 60 seconds, allowing it to propel itself to the maximum altitude achieved in its journey, about 85 kilometers, and thus reach the edges of suborbital space.
Members of the Virgin Galactic mission
The ship was commanded by Mike Masucci, who made his fourth space flight with this mission, and was piloted by former Italian Air Force member Nicole Pecile, who now works for Virgin Galactic and today completed his first space flight.
On board the VSS Unity were former astronaut Colin Bennett and fellow Italians Walter Villadei and Angelo Landolfi, from the Italian Air Force, as well as engineer Pantaleone Carlucci, from the Italian National Research Council, who were in charge of carrying out 13 experiments. in the microgravity environment.
The flight of the Italians could be carried out thanks to a contract signed in 2019 between Virgin Galactic and the Government of that country.
In the mission, called Galactic01, Kelly Latimer and Jameel Janjua, commander and pilot, respectively, of VMS Eve also participated.
According to specialized media, tickets to fly on Unity can amount to about 450,000 dollars (414,000 euros).