Virgin Galactic launches 1st ever mother-daughter duo to space in private flight

British Billionaire Richard Branson's space tourism company Virgin Galactic launched its second commercial flight on August 10 and made several records. The spaceflight launched at 8 pm IST from Spaceport America in New Mexico aboard Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spacecraft with six passengers, three of whom were private passengers. According to the company, the spacecraft ascended to an altitude of 88.5 km and attained a top speed of Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound).

Technically, however, the spacecraft did not enter space which begins from the Karman Line above an altitude of 100 km, but the passengers were able to experience weightlessness as Unity went into freefall after dropping back to Earth. 

"Today we flew three incredible private passengers to space: Keisha Schahaff, Anastatia Mayers and Jon Goodwin. Congratulations @VirginGalactic commercial astronauts 011, 012 and 013 – welcome to the club!" Branson tweeted after the successful touchdown. 

Virgin Galactic's mission makes several records

The mission named 'Galactic 02' made several records such as launching the first mother-daughter duo (Keisha Schahaff, Anastatia Mayers) into space, along with the youngest person (Mayers at 18), first Olympian (Jon Goodwin), and the second person having Parkinson's to visit space (Jon Goodwin). Besides, the mother-daughter duo also makes for the first astronaut pair from the Caribbean.

_{(Private astronauts of the Galactic 02 mission; Image: Virgin Galactic)}

Out of the three private passengers, Goodwin was the only one to pay from his pocket ($450,000 or Rs 3.69 crore per ride). As for Schahaff and her daughter, they who the seat through a fundraising competition organized by Virgin Galactic and a non-profit organisation Space for Humanity.

The other passengers were Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic's chief astronaut instructor along with spacecraft pilots C.J. Sturckow and Kelly Latimer. Virgin Galactic's first commercial mission 'Galactic 01' launched two months ago on June 9 with four passengers and the company is now aiming to carry out one flight per month.