With one final countdown, the VSS Unity made history, launching into space as Virgin Galactic’s first fully crewed spaceflight.
Onboard, two pilots and four mission specialists—including founder Richard Branson who addressed the public from space.
“I was once a child with a dream, looking up to the stars. Now, I'm an adult in a spaceship with lots of other wonderful adults looking down to a beautiful, beautiful earth,” Branson said. “To the next generation of dreamers, if we can do this, just imagine what you can do.”
The VSS Unity launched horizontally from Spaceport America. The spacecraft was attached to its mothership VMS Eve at launch before purposely separating in the air.
Branson reflected on the trip following the successful completion of the flight, noting the importance of continued exploration of commercial spaceflight.
“When you're floating, you're looking out of these giant windows back at this beautiful, beautiful sky, beautiful earth back down here,” Branson said. “It is indescribable.”
Jon Haas is an associate principal engineer at the NASA Engineering and Safety Center.
Speaking independently, not on behalf of NASA, he noted the optimal location of Spaceport America—even when considering potential launch sites in larger coastal areas.
“Oceans are convenient because they're large areas of the Earth's surface where people don't live generally, so you kind of have a free buffer zone there if you have an accident or have a spacecraft designed to land in the water,” Haas said. “New Mexico doesn't have that issue…there's a lot of land available there, which isn't inhabited by people. And so, you have an opportunity to launch spacecraft from land, where the weather is better and more stable.”
Some critics of commercial spaceflight cite environmental concerns from fuel burned. Haas says that while all spacecrafts have significant environmental impacts, there are currently so few spacecrafts the impact is minor. He noted future discussion and public debate on the issue will be critical, especially if commercial space travel grows more prevalent.
While Haas says it’s too soon to determine if space tourism will be a lucrative business for New Mexico, he emphasized the Virgin Galactic launch is a step toward that future.
“If you look back to the origins of commercial aviation, we're only about 100 years into this, that took off very quickly, once it was demonstrated as safe and effective,” Haas said. “I think we're just seeing the very beginnings of that with commercial spaceflight.”
Increased activity at the spaceport is something Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima welcomes, saying events like the VSS Unity launch boost economic growth in the region.
“Today is all the various people from all over the world coming here to get a glimpse of Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic—the kickoff for space tourism,” Miyagishima said. “So that’s huge.”
If Branson has his way, this flight will only be the beginning of a booming commercial space industry, one he says should be accessible to all.
