Soborbital research flight of the Turkish astronaut of Tuva Jihangir Atasever will be the last commercial flight of the Virgin Galactic Cosmoplan VSS Unity.
Atasevert will go into space on June 8 from the Spaceport cosmodrome, located in the state of New Mexico (USA). The cosmic expedition is of particular importance from the point of view of the spacecraft on which we will be performed.
VSS Unity will make the second space flight Virgin Galactic this year and the 12th to this day. After the completion of the mission, in which the Ataseever will take part, the suborbital cosmoplane will no longer be operated.
rises into the air with the help of a carrier
VSS Unity is a suborbital spaceship of reusable use with a hybrid motor installation.
According to information on the Virgin Galactic website, the hybrid rocket engine allows VSS Unity in about 60 seconds to reach a speed three times higher than the sound speed.
The cosmoplane takes off on a specially designed four-engine two-pusheget-lane-carrier aircraft of a large carrying capacity and a large set of heights.
A carrier plane, also called a base ship, can reach a height of about 50 thousand feet.
This height significantly exceeds the height at which an ordinary passenger or transport aircraft can fly.
– VSS Unity will continue to fly by launching your own missile engine
In the flight of Galactic 07, in which Tuva Jihangir Ataseever will also take part, the VSS Unity spacecraft will gain a height of about 45 thousand feet together with the launch vehicle. Next, the device will unhook the carrier and launch its own missile engine, after which it will gain a height of about 90 km.
After the combustion of the fuel, the phase of free fall will begin and from this moment the conditions of weightlessness will appear. The crew members will be in zero gravity for about three minutes. Then the device will again enter the atmosphere and the pilots will smoothly put it on the runway on the cosmodrome.
A smooth and safe trip to space and back will provide two experienced pilots.
– The Cosmoplan was the first flight in 2018
VSS Unity made his first flight on December 13, 2018. The launch took place from the Mohava cosmodrome in California.
The second flight took place on February 22, 2019. In addition to two Virgin Galactic pilots, another crew member took part in the mission.
May 22, 2021, the first flight of VSS Unity with SpacePort called the Unity 21 took place, during which they continued to test the system of the device.
July 11, 2021, the Virgin Galactic Unity 22, the suborbital flight took place, was Richard Branson, the head of the Virgin Galactic company, was among the six passengers. This was the first flight with a full crew.
The final assessment of the entire space flight and the experience of the astronauts before the start of commercial operation was carried out on May 25, 2023, during the Unity 25.
March 29, 2023, Virgin Galactic successfully conducted the first commercial suborbital flight on the VSS Unity’s manned cosmoplane from the America spaceport in New Mexico. All passenger places were paid.