Virgin Galactic Completes 11th Successful Spaceflight
Virgin Galactic Completes 11th Successful Spaceflight
Galactic 06 Carried an All-Private-Astronaut Crew
The first Virgin Galactic spaceflight of 2024 took place Friday, the first time all of the VSS Unity seats were occupied by private astronauts.
“With the production of our next-generation Delta-class ships underway, we look forward to expanding our flight capacity with testing expected to start next year and commercial service in 2026.”
Michael Colglazier, Virgin Galactic
Galactic 06’ took off from Spaceport America at 10:00 am MST. VSS Unity was released at an altitude of 44,493 feet, reaching a suborbital apogee of 55.1 miles and a top speed of Mach 2.98. Unity landed at 10:56 am MST.
“Today the incredible team at Virgin Galactic supported another successful mission and delivered an unforgettable experience for four new astronauts," said Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier. "The success of ‘Galactic 06’ and the Company’s other commercial space flights in recent months only increases our confidence in the repeatability of our product and our ability to deliver a superlative experience to our customers. With the production of our next-generation Delta-class ships underway, we look forward to expanding our flight capacity with testing expected to start next year and commercial service in 2026.”
Galactic 06 Crew
C.J. Sturckow, Commander
Nicola Pecile, Pilot
Astronaut 023 – Lina Borozdina, Ukraine and Nevada, U.S.
Astronaut 024 – Robie Vaughn, Texas, U.S.
Astronaut 025 – Franz Haider, Austria
Astronaut 026 – Neil Kornswiet, California, U.S.
Michael Masucci commanded mothership VMS Eve, joined by pilot Dan Alix. The launch was observed from the ground at Spaceport America by more than 150 guests alongside Virgin Galactic’s team.