Virgin Galactic Notches Third Human Spaceflight

On 22 May 2021, Virgin Galactic successfully completed its third human spaceflight, making New Mexico the third state from which humans have been launched into space, following Florida and California.The flight was launched from New Mexico's Spaceport America,Virgin Galactic's operational base.Its two previous human spaceflights were launched from its development facility in the Mojave Desert, California.* In the course of the flight, the VSS Unity spaceplane was released from the VMS Eve mothership and reached altitude 89.2 km/55.45 mi. Attending the launch were Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson;New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham; and former Governor Bill Richardson,who was instrumental in the creation of Spaceport America.* Piloting the VSS Unity were Astronauts CJ Sturckow and Dave Mackay.Sturckow became the first person to fly into space from three different states.The US definition of an astronaut is one who has traveled more than 80 km above the Earth's surface. Three more Virgin Galactic human spaceflights are planned for the test programme, with regular operations slated for 2022.That will allow them to collect enough data to submit to the Federal Aviation Administration for a Commerical Reusable Spacecraft Operator's License. Virgin Galactic has about 600 aspirants signed up for its spaceflights at a price ranging from 200,000-250,000 dollars. The test flight flew over New Mexico's White Sands National Park.Besides collecting data, the flight carried three paid scientific experiments for NASA under the Flight Opportunities Program.* Governor Grisham said: After so many years (15) and so much hard work,New Mexico has finally reached the stars...On behalf of proud New Mexicans everywhere,I'm incredibly grateful to so many dedicated and visionary collaborators in this effort, not least Sir Richard Branson and former Governor Bill Richardson, the entire Virgin Galactic and Spaceport team who made possible this long-awaited day.* Virgin Galactic stock was up 5.84 (27.74%) at close of Monday's trading.* Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE)