Spaceflight from New Mexico Coming Soon

There is a lot of activity at Spaceport America, as preparations to deliver Virgin Galactic’s first spaceflight from New Mexico later this fall continue to progress well, according to the company.

"If all goes to plan, not only will this flight be the first human spaceflight to depart from New Mexico, it will also mark Virgin Galactic Pilot CJ Sturckow’s sixth time in space, and will see him become the first person to have flown to space from three different U.S. States."

Mike Moses, President of Space Missions and Safety at Virgin Galactic

The spaceport in southern New Mexico will be the beating heart of the company's spaceflight operations and the place from which they believe the first commercial human spaceflight take place. There is rich spaceflight history in New Mexico, including the first photo of earth from space, taken by a rocket in 1946. Virgin Galactic's next spaceflight is set to deliver that first taste of human spaceflight for the state.

"If all goes to plan, not only will this flight be the first human spaceflight to depart from New Mexico, it will also mark Virgin Galactic Pilot CJ Sturckow’s sixth time in space, and will see him become the first person to have flown to space from three different U.S. States, an extraordinary professional achievement. I too have had a long relationship with space," said Mike Moses, President of Space Missions and Safety at Virgin Galactic. "At NASA I worked numerous Space Shuttle missions and oversaw the launch of 12 flights, and I have managed another two during my time at Virgin Galactic. This mission will mark number 15! One thing is for certain, the feeling you get from witnessing your team run a safe and successful mission, followed by greeting the astronauts on their return to earth, never ceases to thrill me."

"CJ, like the rest of the team, is focused on completing a safe flight that meets all test objectives and moves us another step closer to welcoming our Future Astronauts on board. CJ will be alongside our Chief Pilot, Dave Mackay, in the cockpit, as we verify a number of key points to take us to the next stage of our flight test program. While we are planning for CJ and Dave to reach space, if test conditions on the day suggest a shorter burn, that’s fine and we’ll return to fly again soon. The spaceflight system is designed for rapid commercial turnaround, so it is much better to stay on the side of caution and return to base to understand the data and prepare for another test flight," Moses said.

One thing to note about this flight is that once Unity is in space, it will be flying slightly differently than how it will be flown with Future Astronauts. This is because there will be three NASA payloads in the cabin, flown through NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program. Unlike the company's Future Astronauts, these payloads aren’t on board for the view, so instead of stopping the vehicle pitch in the inverted position for the best views of Earth, the spacecraft will pitch 270 degrees following boost to get to the entry attitude as soon as possible. This maneuver will maximize time for the payloads to remain in data-collection mode. The company says carrying these payloads not only makes this test flight a revenue-generating one, but also demonstrates a commitment to facilitating regular, accessible space-based scientific research.

The payloads will be placed in the spaceship cabin, where other test objectives are planned. While passenger seats have been flown on previous flights, this will be the first time in flight where the seats are actively reclined once in space, which will create extra room when Future Astronauts are floating in zero gravity. For this first test of the seat recline in a space environment, instrumented test mannequins will be strapped in.

While on the subject of customer experience, it’s also worth noting that the full suite of internal cabin cameras and the future capability to stream live footage from the spaceship down to the ground will be tested.

Since Unity's last flight to space, Virgin Galactic says they have refined and upgraded a few other elements on the spaceship. The changes have been extensively tested on the ground and in the previous two flights from Spaceport America, and the company is now ready to test them on a rocket-powered flight. The horizontal stabilizers (known as H-Stabs), which are the flight control surfaces on the outboard of the feather booms, have been upgraded. There have also been improvements to the flight control system that commands these Hstabs to move in response to pilot inputs. These improvements have been flown on our last two glide flights, and they performed well. Together these mods will enhance the performance of the spaceship and support long-term commercial service.

Virgin Galactic anticipate that this upcoming flight will provide some of the data for the company to close out its final two verification reports required by the FAA to remove the remaining proviso in the company's current commercial spaceflight license.

Upon successful completion of this flight, and data review, the next phase of testing will get underway, where four mission specialists will fly in the cabin to test and refine the equipment, procedures, training and overall experience.

"It’s a great time to be part of Virgin Galactic, as we work together to bring the wonder of human spaceflight to the state of New Mexico for the first time this Fall – and, even more exciting – many more times in the years ahead," Moses said.

(Image provided with Virgin Galactic news release)