Last year, Sir. Richard Branson accomplished his space flight mission to space. Mr. Branson, running a leading flying firm, has been waiting a long time for this moment. He launched the Virgin Galactic company in 2004 with the goal of providing thrill-seekers with trips to the edge of Karman line of space on rocket-powered aircraft. He estimated that commercial flights would start in two to three years. However, it’s been nearly 17 years since his dream comes true. The company says it still has to do two more test flights before it can begin accepting private passengers.
Branson Space Flight Experience
In July 2021, Mr. Branson and other staff reached the plane, and the journey to the space started at 10:40 a.m. from Spaceport America in New Mexico, roughly 290 kilometers south of Albuquerque.
The space aircraft detached from the mother ship approximately at 11:25 a.m. and fired its engine for nearly 60 seconds, propelling Mr. Branson and the team to the edge of space. After a few minutes, the aircraft started gliding down to Earth and landed safely on the runway. During the glide, Mr. Branson spoke into a camera in the plane’s cabin, calling it “an experience of a lifetime.” Mr. Branson and other members were very excited and they took the platform more than an hour later. He described the experience as a magical thing of his life.
The SpaceShipTwo is a rocket plane around the size of a private aircraft. There may be up to six persons in the cabin including two pilots. V.S.S. Unity is another name of this SpaceShipTwo plane. Unity was initially transported to a height of roughly 50,000 feet by a bigger plane. Unity was then detached from the mother plane, and the engine of the unity plane was ignited. On the way to a height of more than 80 kilometers, the acceleration caused passengers on board to experience a higher force than their usual weight.
Returning to the Earth
Branson and his team could view the darkness of space and the curvature of the Earth through windows from the maximum height. They also stepped out of their chairs and walked about for almost 4 minutes with zero gravity. The downward gravitational attraction of Earth from 80 kilometers up is basically the same as it is on the earth. The passengers were descending at the same speed as the aircraft around them. The Unity tail booms then rose up like a feathered shape, which increased drag and stabilization and allowed it to land more softly. As aircraft returned back to the atmosphere, the tail booms came down to glide back the plane.