Virgin Galactic sets next tourist date
January 8, 2024
By Chris Forrester
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic near-space tourism venture has set January 26th for its next commercial passenger flight (Galactic 06). It will be the 11th flight overall.
Virgin’s VSS Unity craft will carry four paying clients, following what the company describes as a year of unprecedented human spaceflight achievements, including six suborbital spaceflights in six months.
Virgin lists its paying passengers as:
· Astronaut 023 – Private Astronaut from Ukraine and Las Vegas, US
· Astronaut 024 – Private Astronaut from Texas, US
· Astronaut 025 – Private Astronaut from Austria
· Astronaut 026 – Private Astronaut from California, US
The Virgin Galactic crew will include:
· VSS Unity Commander CJ Sturckow and pilot Nicola Pecile
· VMS Eve Commander Michael Masucci and pilot Dan Alix
Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said: “Our inaugural year of commercial service demonstrated our spaceflight system’s ability to regularly deliver a safe and unparalleled customer experience for our astronauts and established new turn time records for reuseable human spaceflight systems. We’re excited to begin 2024 by bringing four new Virgin Galactic astronauts to space with our ‘Galactic 06’ mission.”