WASHINGTON, Oct. 6. Virgin Galactic carried out another launch of the VSS Unity suborbital spacecraft; for the first time, an astronaut from Pakistan visited the border with space, the company reported.
The VMS Eve carrier aircraft with the VSS Unity suborbital spacecraft attached to it launched from the spaceport in New Mexico. 45 minutes after launch, the Unity apparatus separated from the aircraft carrying it and then continued its flight under its own power to the boundary with space, after which it returned to Earth in gliding flight mode.
A crew of four was on board the suborbital ship on the border with space, in addition to astronaut-instructor Beth Moses, who works for Virgin Galactic, it included space tourists from the United States, Great Britain and Pakistan. “Astronaut number 019 from Pakistan became the first person from this country to fly (into space — ed.),” the company said.
The first manned suborbital flight of VSS Unity took place in July 2020, the crew included the owner of the company, British billionaire Richard Branson. After the flight, Virgin Galactic declared itself as «the world's first commercial spaceflight» (similar to an airline), whose goal is to «introduce people around the world to the love and excitement that spaceflight brings.»