Virgin Galactic’s first true space tourism is underway

This week marks an important week for Virgin Galactic. Richard Branson’s space company brought real space tourists to the far reaches of space on Thursday afternoon for the first time in its history. So these are people who pay to do this tour in space.

Galactic Virgo

A ticket for this flight to the edge of space costs 410,000 euros, which means that space tourism is mainly for the 1%. However, it’s something Branson sees bread in: he’s been working for decades to make it happen and to make money from space and the science that ensures people go to space. and return safely. People travel to the outer reaches of space because they can experience weightlessness there, but can also easily return to our planet.

The journey is quite short: they travel 85 kilometers in an hour and a half, are weightless for a few minutes and then return to earth. The beginnings of this space jaunt were for Galactic 01, a group of four people, including two from the Italian Air Force, who study microgravity. So, on the one hand, it’s not just for fun. Moreover, the argument for space tourism is also that it is not just for fun, but also for revenue that can be invested in researching and developing new, hopefully more sustainable, techniques. to go into space.

Space tourism

It’s a good thing for the travelers that their trip finally happened, because it took a lot of effort for them. VIrgin Galactic has lost a co-pilot to a testing issue for the past decade, and then all sorts of investigations have been launched to find out if this company is completely pure coffee and proceeding with caution. Galactic 01 was supposed to be released in late 2021, but the launch has been pushed back a few times. Plus, Virgin isn’t doing well financially either: $500 million was the company’s loss last year. Bizarre numbers, though they suit a cowboy entrepreneur like Branson, who’s not only smart enough to keep going, but also wealthy enough.