The rocket-powered spacecraft took off in the morning from the air after it was elevated to an altitude of 13 km by a special ship consisting of two connected planes. From there, VSS Unity flew to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere about 88 km above Earth. In this way, it crossed the space limit recognized by the US Air Force, set at 50 miles, or approx. 80 km.
The billionaire from Great Britain will spend a few minutes weightless with five other crew members, after which the ship will begin to descend.
This is the first flight of a machine with a full crew. Previously, the ship made three successful test flights.
Lot Bransona
The British Billionaire’s Flight can be tracked and viewed from the playout below:
Branson defeated Bezos
Branson announced his participation in the flight shortly after Bezos revealed that the fourth passenger on the New Shepard flight – alongside Bezos, his brother Mark and an anonymous buyer of a $ 28 million ticket – will be 82-year-old would-be astronaut Wally Funk, who, despite decades of efforts and training, never managed to go into space. The woman also reserved a place for herself on the Branson machine nine years ago.
“I would like Jeff to be there for my take off and I would like to watch him take off.” It doesn’t really matter which of us will be first – argued Branson in an interview for CNN.
The race for both billionaires blazes a new path for space tourism, which has so far been used by only a few. The competition is also attended by SpaceX, another billionaire Elon Musk, who plans a commercial flight to the Moon’s orbit in 2023, and in September this year – the first fully civilian manned flight to orbit around the Earth.
Source: Polsat News, NBC News, PAP
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