Virgin Galactic Unity 22

Virgin Galactic Unity 22 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity which launched on 11 July 2021.[1] (See Virgin Galactic.)

The crew were pilots David Mackay and Michael Masucci as well as passengers Sirisha Bandla, Colin Bennett, Beth Moses, and Richard Branson.[2]

On 7 June 2021, Jeff Bezos announced that he is planning to be on the first crewed flight of his company Blue Origin.[3] In the following days, rumors began to spread that Richard Branson was filing paperwork to make a similar flight, beating Bezos. The fight between Branson and Bezos led the media to call it a "billionaire space race". However, shortly before the flight, Bezos offered well wishes to Branson.[4] SpaceX founder and chief executive officer Elon Musk personally met with Branson shortly before the flight.[5]

Outside restricted airspace

The rocket plane Unity flew outside restricted airspace; That happened for 1 minute and 41 seconds. The Federal Aviation Administration investigated in September 2021;[6] the plane was not allowed to fly until the investigation finished.[7] The SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes were allowed to fly again on September 29, after the FAA decided to expand (or make larger) the restricted aerospace around the vehicle's flight range.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Virgin Galactic Announces First Fully Crewed Spaceflight". Archived from the original on 2021-07-11. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
  2. ↑ "Introducing Virgin Galactic Unity 22 Crew". YouTube. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "Jeff Bezos Will Go to Space on Blue Origin's First Crewed Flight". Scientific American.
  4. ↑ "Jeff Bezos offers well wishes to Richard Branson ahead of space launch". 11 July 2021.
  5. ↑ "Elon Musk showed up in Richard Branson's kitchen at 3 a.m. To wish him luck flying to the edge of space". Business Insider.
  6. ↑ Shepardson, David (2021-09-02). "U.S. aviation agency probes Branson's Virgin Galactic flight deviation". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  7. ↑ Shepardson, David (2021-09-02). "U.S. bars Virgin Galactic rocket plane flights pending mishap probe". Reuters.
  8. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2021-09-29). "FAA clears Virgin Galactic to resume SpaceShipTwo flights".