Virgin Galactic

External company link https://www.virgingalactic.com/

Owner of Virgin Galactic is Sir Richard Branson, who is a self made British Billionaire tthat also owns as one of his many companies Virgin Airlines and also the now defunct Virgin Orbit Rocket company.

Virgin Suborbital Space (VSS) Plane

As of June 2024 Virgin's  "VSS Unity" Space Plane has been retired. Virgin are currently building there updated "Delta class" Space-plane that hopes to fly in the 2026/7 time frame, the  "Delta class"  hopes to be much faster and cheaper to turn around, allowing two flights a week as opposed to 7 a flights a year of VSS Unity. 

Picture above of Delta class VSS

Richard Branson flew as one of 4  passengers and two crew to the edge of space aboard  "VSS Unity" on the 11 Jul 2021, Reaching an altitude of 85 kilometers (about 50 miles). 

22 Feb 2019 First space flight with two pilots, Dave Mackay and Mike “Sooch” Masucci and a passenger  'Astronaut trainer' Beth Moses(571st human in space) becoming the first woman in space on board a commercial space craft. The fifth powered flight test of VSS Unity.

Chief Pilot, Dave Mackay became the 569th person to enter space and the first Scottish-born astronaut!

SpaceShipTwo reached Mach 3.04 and an apogee of: 55.87miles. 295,007ft (89.9km)

Virgin Galactic hopes to achieve flights to the Karman line is an internationally accepted threshold for space, which is 100 km, or 62 miles above the surface of the Earth.

Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity Soars Into Space for 2nd Time

13 Dec 2018 First Space flight with two pilots, Mark Stucky and co-pilot Frederick C.J. Sturckow whom the FAA awarded spaceflight wings. The forth powered flight test of VSS Unity.

That test flight reached an altitude of 51.4 miles, or nearly 83 kilometers. The U.S. government consider pilots who have flown above 80 kilometers to be astronauts.

Virgin Galactic Spaceship Pilots