Virgin Galactic founder and British billionaire Richard Branson launched into space Sunday as part of the company's latest flight from New Mexico.
The company's Unity 22 space plane, attached to its carrier aircraft, launched from Spaceport America at about 8:40 a.m. before disconnecting and propelling its passengers into suborbital space. After several minutes, Unity glided back down to the Spaceport without incident.
"I was once a kid with a dream looking up to the stars, and now I’m an adult in a spaceship looking back to our beautiful earth," Branson said during a news conference with children from Las Cruces Public Schools present. "If we can do this, imagine what you can do."
In all, the flight lasted about one hour and had spectators on the ground in awe. Lina Borozzina, a guest who said she took out a second mortgage on her home to finance a reservation, said she "cannot find words" to describe today's flight.
The flight represents a major milestone for intergalactic exploration and the commercial space industry in New Mexico. The state lured Virgin Galactic with plans for what ended up being the $218 million, taxpayer-funded Spaceport America facility. Founded in 2004, the company plans to begin commercial operations next year.
Virgin Galactic described the flight as its first fully-crewed spaceflight with four pilots and four "mission specialists." Branson previously planned to go on a commercial flight, but announced earlier this month that he would be joining today's test flight — nine days before Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos is set to launch into space as part of his own bid to bring customers to space.
Sunday's flight is Virgin Galactic's second successful rocket-powered spaceflight test from the Spaceport America and is scheduled to be followed by two more.
The company first rocket-powered flight at the Spaceport was derailed twice due to electromagnetic interference (EMI), which caused a rocket motor controller to reboot during an attempt in December 2020. The company then found additional electromagnetic interference impacts during preflight preparations for a February attempt before successfully flying in May.
A total of 500 people were invited to the Spaceport to view today's flight in person, including members of the media. The company is also live-streaming the flight.
Virgin Galactic has worked for more than a decade to take Branson into outer space. It has faced significant challenges along the way, including obtaining money for the Spaceport. That effort was kickstarted in 2005, when former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson announced an effort to work with the state legislature to secure $100 million for the Spaceport, with additional funding coming from other sources.
In the end, the state allocated $142 million for the Spaceport including about $76 million generated by local gross receipts tax. It broke ground in 2006, and the first phase of construction was completed about a decade later.
In 2014, tragedy struck and presented a major setback.
One pilot was killed and another injured when Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo vehicle broke apart high above the California desert. A National Transportation Safety Board inquiry found human error and inadequate safety methods led to the crash. After the crash, Branson acknowledged that the incident may have ended his foray into space tourism.
But the company continued on, holding its next rocket-powered flight with a SpaceShipTwo vehicle in 2018. The next year, after another successful test flight, Virgin Galactic ordered a safety probe after it discovered that a wing had been damaged, posing a potential safety hazard, according to reporting from The Washington Post, citing a new book.
That same year, Branson stood alongside Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other officials to announce that it was relocating more than 100 employees from California to New Mexico, signaling that its commercial operations were coming closer. Months later, it unveiled its Gateway to Space facilities at the Spaceport, which houses the flight operations team and a communal area for customers. The company is the anchor tenant at the Spaceport, which has been criticized in the past for lack of activity.
In an interview with the media, Grisham touted Virgin Galactic's economic impact on the region. She also called the taxes invested into the Spaceport "unequivocally" worth it.
"And remember, all those early dollars beyond construction jobs... there's been security firms and research firms. There's been catering and events," she said. "So this has really bolstered, say, Sierra County who wouldn't have access to any of those local gross receipts. And just think about just the economic outcomes from today. It is amazing, you bet its worth it."
Virgin Galactic also went public in October 2019 after shareholders in Silicon Valley holding company Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. approved a proposed merger and $700 million investment into the space company.
The deal arose after plans for a $1 billion investment from Saudi Arabia into Virgin Galactic and two spinoff companies was suspended following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Virgin Galactic said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last year that it had a backlog of more than 600 reservations that “were accompanied by a significant deposit” as of the end of 2019. The firm initially charged $250,000 for a seat and may be able to lower prices once it scales its operations. It eventually plans to host hundreds of flights per year.
The company has also expressed interest in the idea of providing point-to-point flights, previously entering into an agreement with NASA to develop such technologies.
