Virgin Galactic’s First Paid Flight To Space Expected To Launch With Italian Air Force Onboard

Up, up and away. Photo: Virgin Galactic

Two years after its last mission, space travel company Virgin Galactic is back today to launch its first commercial flight into the atmosphere. The VSS Unity rocket that will take the four lucky individuals into space, as well as the two pilots needed to fly. But who’s on board this landmark mission?

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When it takes off at 11 a.m. EDT, the VSS Unity rocket will be mounted beneath the wings of an enormous mother ship that will fly it up to altitude at 50,000 feet. There, it will drop from the mother ship and launch into an area close to space at Mach 3.

Pantaleone Carlucci (L), Walter Villadei (C) and Angelo Landolfi (R). Photo: Virgin Galactic

The ship’s tickets, which cost between $200,000 and $450,000 according to Al Jazera, were all snapped up by Italian officials, the site reports. As well as the pilots and a Virgin Galactic instructor, the VSS Unity will carry will also carry Angelo Landolfi and Walter Villadei, two senior members of Italy’s air force, and Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer from the National Research Council of Italy, who will be conducting a strict set of experiments in that limited time, as The Verge reports:

“The crew will conduct several suborbital science experiments during the 90-minute flight, such as testing equipment for measuring cosmic radiation and studying various materials in microgravity conditions. The cabin of the SpaceShipTwo vehicle VSS Unity — the rocket-powered spaceplane housing Virgin Galactic’s passengers — will be converted into a suitable suborbital science lab to conduct the experiments.”

Ready for takeoff. Photo: Virgin Galactic

The mission will be available to watch here. If it’s successful, Virgin Galactic will begin competing with Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin, which has been offering private flights into space for a few years now. However, after an issue with one of its rockets last September, the organization paused launches while it investigated the cause.