Watch the Launch

Watch the Launch

Additional Media

đź”´Unity 25 - Virgin Galactic Return to Flight

🔴 After a nearly two-year pause in flights, starting after a deviation from controlled airspace during Sir Richard Branson’s flight in July 2021, the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity is being pr...

VSS Unity 25

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Suborbital
Mission: Test Flight

Suborbital Spaceport America Air launch to Suborbital flight

Virgin Galactic return to space mission ahead of the first commercial flight.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • May 25, 2023, 4:41 p.m.

VSS Unity has landed.


Cosmic_Penguin • May 25, 2023, 4:24 p.m.

SS2 drop


Cosmic_Penguin • May 25, 2023, 4:20 p.m.

Probable close to drop time.


Cosmic_Penguin • May 25, 2023, 4:08 p.m.

Waiting for cabin preparations to complete.


Cosmic_Penguin • May 25, 2023, 4:02 p.m.

SS2 drop soon.


SpaceShipTwo

Family:
Configuration:

The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It is manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic.

Specifications
  • Stages
    1
  • Length
    18.0 m
  • Diameter
    8.2 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    ―
  • Launch Mass
    9.0 T
  • Thrust
    310.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    SpaceShipTwo
  • Family
    ―
  • Variant
    ―
  • Alias
    ―
  • Full Name
    SpaceShipTwo
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    ―
  • Low Earth Orbit
    ―
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    ―
  • Direct Geostationary
    ―
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    ―

VSS Unity


Active Human Rated Crew On-board: 6 Crew Capacity: 8
Destination: Suborbital
Serial Number: N202VG

VSS Unity, previously referred to as VSS Voyager, is a SpaceShipTwo-class suborbital rocket-powered crewed spaceplane. It is the second SpaceShipTwo to be built and will be used as part of the Virgin Galactic fleet.

SpaceShipTwo Details

Crew


Michael Masucci

Commander - configurations.Country.None - ( VG )

Status: Active

Date of Birth: None
Age: None

Frederick W. Sturckow

Pilot - configurations.Country.None - ( VG )

Status: Active

Date of Birth: Aug. 11, 1961
Age: 65

Christopher Huie

Passenger - configurations.Country.None - ( VG )

Status: Active

Date of Birth: None
Age: None

Jamila Gilbert

Passenger - configurations.Country.None - ( VG )

Status: Active

Date of Birth: None
Age: None

Luke Mays

Passenger - configurations.Country.None - ( VG )

Status: Active

Date of Birth: None
Age: None

Beth Moses

Passenger - configurations.Country.None - ( VG )

Status: Active

Date of Birth: May 30, 1980
Age: 46

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic

(VG)

Founder: Richard Branson Founded: 2004 Successes: 62 Failures: 5 Pending: 1

Agency Type:

Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company within the Virgin Group. It is developing commercial spacecraft and aims to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two.

INFO WIKI
CNBC

Virgin Galactic completes Unity 25 spaceflight in key final test before commercial service

Virgin Galactic launched its first spaceflight in nearly two years on Thursday, a key final test for the space tourism company before it begins flying commercial passengers.

NASASpaceflight

VSS Unity conducts first powered flight since Branson’s trip in 2021

After a nearly two-year pause in flights, starting after a deviation from controlled airspace during Sir Richard Branson’s flight in July 2021, the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity made its first powered flight since the eventful Uni…

SpaceNews

Virgin Galactic makes first suborbital spaceflight in nearly two years

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle flew to space for the first time in nearly two years May 25 on what the company projected to be the vehicle’s final test flight before commencing commercial operations.

CNBC

Virgin Galactic targets May 25 for first spaceflight since Richard Branson’s trip

Virgin Galactic is targeting as early as May 25 for the launch of its next spaceflight, which marks both its first in nearly two years since flying founder Sir Richard Branson and its planned last step before beginning commercial service.

CNBC

Virgin Galactic quarterly loss widens while company preps for spaceflight return this month

Virgin Galactic is aiming to fly its first spaceflight in nearly two years later this month, but the company’s first quarter loss widened dramatically as it funds its fleet growth.

Air launch to Suborbital flight

Spaceport America


Gravity-1
Success
14 hours, 30 minutes ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #16
Yellow Sea (launch location 5) - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with …


Zhuque-2E Block 2
Success
1 day, 6 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #15
Launch Area 96A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

10 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…


Vega-C
Success
1 day, 11 hours ago
Sentinel-3C & FLEX
Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV) - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 constellation, which provides high-accuracy optical, radar and altimetry data for marine and lan…


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 17 hours ago
O3b mPower 11-13
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

3 high-throughput communications satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) built by Boeing and operated by SES.


Electron
Success
5 days, 9 hours ago
Happily Ever Faster (BlackSky Gen-3 5)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Note: Payload and customer identities were not publicly announced. 5th of the BlackSky Gen-3 high resolution Earth-imaging satellites.


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 20 hours ago
USSF-153
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

USSF-153 is a classified mission for the United States Space Force. It is possibly a batch of classified LEO satellites based on SpaceX’s Starshield …


Long March 4B
Success
6 days, 3 hours ago
Yaogan 53-01 to 03/56-01 to 03
Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

6 Chinese military “remote sensing” satellite of unknown purposes.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 15-24
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Spectrum
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Onward and Upward
Orbital Launch Pad - Andøya Spaceport

Second test flight of the Isar Spectrum launch vehicle. This launch will carry 5 cubesats and 1 non-separable experiment as part of European Space Ag…


GSLV Mk II
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
GISAT-1A (EOS-05)
Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

GISAT-1A (GEO Imaging Satellite) is an Indian earth observing satellite operating from geostationary orbit to facilitate continuous observation of In…