A team of Italian researchers celebrated a successful launch aboard Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flight that took them more than 50 miles above the surface.
Colonel Walter Villadei, Pantaleone Carlucci, and Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Landolfi bumped their fists inside the cockpit as they rose toward the edge of space.
The flight marks a watershed moment for Virgin Galactic, which was founded for the purpose of space tourism in 2004 and is worth $1.31 billion, as it inaugurates commercial service after several years plagued with development setbacks.
The ‘mother ship,’ a transport plane named VMS Eve, and a space plane lifted off at 10:45 am ET from Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America in New Mexico.
The rocket plane, SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity, reached speeds of Mach 3 within seconds of being released from Eve at 11:30 am ET and rocketed toward the edge of space.
Unity shut down once it reached space, allowing the men to experience weightlessness and epic views of the last frontier for a few minutes.
The crew also held up an Italian flag as they floated inside the cabin.


A team of Italian researchers celebrated a successful launch aboard Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flight that took them more than 50 miles above the surface.
Unlike Branson’s rivals Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, this flight was not crewed by wealthy individuals or celebrities dishing out hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars for the experience.
The focus of the Galactic 01 mission was to test 13 experiments in zero gravity, which collected biometric data, measured cognitive performance, and recorded how certain liquids and solids mix in microgravity.
However, the tickets are $250,000 each, but Virgin Galactic raised the price to $450,000.
Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin also use rockets to launch capsules into space, while Branson opted to take a different approach with airdrops.
Once Virgin Galactic’s jets reach an altitude of approximately 45,000 feet, the mothership will release the space plane, which will then rocket towards the final frontier.
The technique has been explored over several decades of flight research, including the X-1, the first aircraft to break the sound barrier, and the X-15, the fastest piloted aircraft ever flown, topping out at 4,520 miles per hour. hour during a 1967 flight.
And it reduces the need for massive amounts of fuel since the craft doesn’t use rocket power to drag itself through the dense lower atmosphere.

Cheers erupted around the runway as the larger aircraft carrier named VMS Eve shot up the runway and lifted off the ground with SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity firmly attached to its underside.

The rocket plane, SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity, reached speeds of Mach 3 within seconds of being released from Eve at 11:30 am ET and rocketed toward the edge of space.

The crew included three passengers funded by the Italian Air Force and one of the company’s astronaut instructors, who previously flew with Branson in 2021.

The mother ship and space plane lifted off at 10:45 am ET from Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Virgin Galactic’s space plane was propelled by two pilots while all four passengers sat in the cockpit preparing for space.
For Italian Air Force Colonel Walter Villadei, designated as commander, the flight aboard the space plane was part of his training as an astronaut for a future mission to the International Space Station.
Joining him on Thursday are two Italian colleagues: Air Force Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi, a physician and flight surgeon, and Pantaleone Carlucci, a research council member who acts as a flight engineer and payload specialist.
Rounding out the crew were their Virgin Galactic trainer, Colin Bennett, the company’s leading “astronaut instructor,” and the two Unity pilots, Michael Masucci and Nicola Pecile.
One of the Italian researchers wore a special suit that measures biometric data and physiological responses, while another conducted tests using sensors to track heart rate, brain function and other metrics in microgravity.
And the third studied how certain liquids and solids mix in that very weak gravity.
The gleaming white space plane is designed to separate from its twin-fuselage mother ship and then fall when pilots fire up the vehicle’s engine to send the rocket plane on a near-vertical climb at about three times the speed of sound into the blackness of space. . .

I am Rakesh Sharma, I associated with Elite News as an Editor, since 2021. I take care of all the news operations like content, budget, hiring and policy making.