GOING GALACTIC: Ride along with the three-man crew on a Virgin Galactic rocket plane for the company's first flight of paying customers to the edge of space.
The group took off on VSSUnity, a suborbital rocket-powered crewed spaceplane, attached to a bigger"mothership" aircraft called VMS Eve.
VMS Eve launched similar to a commercial airplane and, when it reached more than 40,000 feet, it released VSS Unity, firing its rocket engine. VSS Unity then reached its intended altitude of 50 miles above Earth's surface, which is considered the edge of outer space. After spending a few minutes in zero-gravity, it began free-falling and heading back to the spaceport in New Mexico for landing.Virgin Galactic announced its spaceplane, VSS Unity, has taken off from the spaceport in New Mexico and is currently climbing to its altitude goal, 50 miles above Earth.
"VSS Unity is currently climbing to release altitude. Our #Galactic01 crew from the @ItalianAirForce & @CNRsocial_, are preparing to conduct 13 scientific research experiments throughout the stages of flight," the company tweeted.
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