Virgin Galactic: First space tourism mission after decades of promises

Virgin Galactic has taken a erstwhile Olympian, a University of Aberdeen pupil and her parent to the borderline of abstraction connected its archetypal formation for tourists.

Ana Mayers, 18, and her parent Keisha Schahaff, 46, some from Antigua, won their tickets successful a competition.

They became the archetypal mother-daughter duo to alert to abstraction together.

Jon Goodwin, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, became the 2nd idiosyncratic with Parkinson's illness to spell to space, a travel helium called "completely surreal".

Mr Goodwin bought his summons for $250,000 (then £191,000) successful 2005.

The bearer mothership VMS Eve took disconnected from Spaceport America, successful the authorities of New Mexico, astatine 08:30 section clip (15:30 BST).

Fifty minutes into the flight, the Unity rocket vessel separated from Eve arsenic planned.

A abbreviated clip later, the passengers were fixed the all-clear to unbuckle and bask zero gravity, astatine an altitude of astir 85km (280,000ft).

Ms Mayers, a second-year doctrine and physics pupil astatine the University of Aberdeen, instantly reached for the model to instrumentality successful the views of Earth and the achromatic of space.

The 3 past returned to their seats and strapped themselves backmost successful up of the instrumentality journey.

They successfully landed backmost astatine Spaceport America conscionable implicit an hr aft taking off.

In a video posted connected societal media, Sir Richard Branson - Virgin Galactic's laminitis - shed tears of joyousness arsenic helium celebrated the ngo from Ms Schahaff and Ms Mayers' autochthonal Antigua.

Sir Richard, who completed a akin travel successful July 2021, wrote: "Today we flew 3 unthinkable backstage passengers to space: Keisha Schahaff, Anastatia Mayers and Jon Goodwin.

"Congratulations Virgin Galactic commercialized astronauts 011, 012 and 013 - invited to the club!"

"Looking astatine Earth was the astir amazing" portion of the trip, she said.

Mr Goodwin described his acquisition arsenic the astir breathtaking time of his life.

"I'm hoping that I instil successful different radical astir the world, arsenic good arsenic radical with Parkinson's, that it doesn't halt you doing things that's retired of the mean if you've got immoderate illness," helium said.

"The astir awesome happening was looking astatine Earth from abstraction - the axenic clarity was precise moving."

Mr Goodwin is the archetypal connected a database of 800 oregon truthful individuals who person bought tickets for a thrust connected the Unity rocket.

Some of them, similar Mr Goodwin, person been waiting implicit a decennary to get their chance, and astir inactive look a agelong wait.

Sir Richard archetypal announced his volition to marque a abstraction level successful 2004, with the content helium could commencement a commercialized work by 2007.

But method difficulties - including a fatal clang during a improvement formation successful 2014 - person made the abstraction task 1 of the astir challenging ventures of his career.

Recently, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' abstraction institution Blue Origin bushed Virgin Galactic successful the contention to go the archetypal institution to instrumentality paying passengers into space.

Both companies accidental their missions further subject arsenic good arsenic catering to the precise rich.

But, abstraction tourism has been criticised for its outgo and biology impact.