Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic sets June date for first commercial spaceflight

California: Richard Branson’s space tourism venture Virgin Galactic Holdings plans to fly its first commercial passenger space mission as soon as June 27.

The flight, called Galactic 01, will include researchers from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy, the company said Thursday. It will also mark the beginning of commercial operations for Virgin Galactic after numerous delays, and pave the way for the hundreds of space tourists who previously bought six-figure tickets to finally fly on the company’s ships.

The company is targeting a flight window between June 27 and June 30, and will fly its spaceplane VSS Unity out of Spaceport America in New Mexico. The Galactic 01 crew will conduct experiments in the microgravity environment of space, Virgin Galactic said.

Once the mission is complete, Virgin Galactic plans to follow it up with a second commercial flight, Galactic 02, in early August. The company said it hopes to fly missions monthly moving forward.

Virgin Galactic did not announce the crew for Galactic 02, but hinted the flight may finally carry tourists who put down initial deposits on seats years ago.

The commercial debut will “open the doors” for the roughly 800 people who have already signed up for seats, a group representing 66 countries, CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement.

Virgin Galactic recently returned to spaceflight after nearly two years with a test flight called Unity 25, which sent six company employees to the edge of space and back. The flight allowed the company to do a final assessment of the “full spaceflight system and astronaut experience” before commercial flights, it said.

The company had planned commercial operations since it famously flew Branson, its founder, to space in July 2021, but repeatedly pushed back the start as it upgraded its flight vehicles. So far, Virgin Galactic has flown VSS Unity to space and back five times.