The Second Spaceflight

& The First Passenger

A second successful test flight by Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity has just made it back to Earth after having touched space at an altitude of 55.87 miles this morning. Not only was the spaceship manned by two astronauts, but it also transported the company's first ever test passenger and first ever female flyer, Beth Moses, Virgin's chief astronaut instructor.

Today's accomplishment brings Virgin Galactic one step closer to fulfilling their tourism venture of space flights departing from Spaceport America in New Mexico, where they are the anchor tenant of the facility. Virgin Galactic with offices in Las Cruces, NM, is the first company venturing into space tourism.After today's successful launch, the City of Las Cruces Economic Development Director Phil San Filippo congratulated Virgin Galactic's monumental success: "We are extremely excited and proud of our Virgin Galactic partner. We look forward to their continued success."

Each successful test flight brings Virgin Galactic closer to transporting their long list of 'future astronauts' to space. Over 600 civilian astronauts have paid the $250,000 price tag to experience what almost entirely all of mankind has not: a brief period of weightlessness and the opportunity to see the earth’s curvature from space. A much more affordable tour will be a public tour of the Spaceport America facility with the tour company Final Frontier Tours. Final Frontier Tours will begin departing from Visit Las Cruces on March 8, 2019. For more information call 575-267-8888.