Virgin Galactic Completes Fifth Private Astronaut Flight: Galactic 05
Virgin Galactic’s fifth commercial spaceflight—and sixth successful human space mission in six months—was launched from Spaceport America, New Mexico, on November 2, 2023, at 09:00 local time. VSS Unity, the second SpaceShipTwo, transported three passengers: Dr. Alan Stern, Kellie Gerardi, Ketty Pucci-Sisti Maisonrouge; as well as Colin Bennett (Astronaut Instructor). The flight reached an apogee of 54.2m miles (~87 km).
Astronaut 020 – Dr. Alan Stern, U.S. Planetary Scientist and Associate Vice President in Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Space Sector
Astronaut 021 – Kellie Gerardi, U.S. Payload Specialist and Bioastronautics Researcher for the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS)
Astronaut 022 – Ketty Pucci-Sisti Maisonrouge, Private Astronaut
Dr. Stern flew with two human-tended experiments, including a biomedical harness to collect physiological data related to human spaceflight. He also conducted practice routines and procedures in preparation for a future NASA-funded suborbital research flight.
Dr. Alan Stern, U.S. Planetary Scientist and Associate Vice President in Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Space Sector, said: “The success of this mission is another important step in the development of the scientific and educational use cases for commercial suborbital vehicles. The potential here is literally astronomical.”
Dr. Stern was the principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto
Video Credit: Virgin Galactic
Flight Date: Nov. 2, 2023
Duration: 1 minute, 27 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 3, 2023
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