Get ready for an exciting announcement from Virgin Galactic! The company has just revealed that its next commercial spaceflight, Galactic 03, is scheduled for September 8. This will be their third commercial spaceflight, and it’s set to carry three lucky passengers who purchased their tickets back in the early 2000s.
If all goes according to plan, this will be Virgin Galactic’s fourth spaceflight in just four months. Quite an impressive feat after a period of downtime. Not only will this flight solidify Virgin Galactic’s position as a leader in suborbital space tourism, but it will also put them ahead of Blue Origin, who has been grounded for almost a year following a launch accident.
Curious about the reasons behind the downtime and how Virgin Galactic has managed to increase their flight frequency? I recently had the opportunity to interview Mike Moses, the company’s chief of operations and president. With his background in NASA’s Space Shuttle program, he provided valuable insights into the company’s progress.
In our conversation, we delved into various topics, including the longevity of Virgin Galactic’s current spacecraft, VSS Unity, their plans to introduce a new Delta-class family of spaceships, and the importance of having pilots at the controls. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Ars: You joined Virgin Galactic in 2011. Can you share your decision to leave NASA and your motivation to continue working in human spaceflight?
Mike Moses: Leaving NASA was a bittersweet decision for me. I had the privilege of leading the team during the end of the shuttle program, and we finished strong. However, I wanted to continue working in operations, and the opportunity to contribute to commercial space was too enticing to pass up. I had a conversation with Gerstenmaier, who encouraged me to take the leap, assuring me that I could make a significant impact in the commercial space industry.
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Ars: What were your thoughts on the commercial space industry at that time?
Mike Moses: At that time, the suborbital market was gaining momentum with the upcoming Commercial Crew program. I believed that suborbital providers would be the first to achieve success before the orbital missions. However, things didn’t unfold as expected.
Ultimately, I saw this as an opportunity to be part of an industry focused on providing unique experiences to people. In the government sector, the focus is on providing a service, so this was a new and exciting challenge for me. Joining Virgin Galactic early on and helping build the operations team from scratch was incredibly appealing.
Ars: It’s been 12 years since you joined. From an engineering perspective, what has been the biggest challenge in sending a relatively small vehicle to space and back?
Mike Moses: One of our main challenges is the air launch capability. While it offers great advantages, we have to approach it with caution. Our vehicle transitions through various flight regimes, each with its own unique characteristics. To optimize our flight-control systems, we need to gather flight test data in each regime and then integrate it to achieve optimal performance.
On Wednesday, Virgin Galactic President, Enrico Palermo, revealed that the company’s spaceplane VSS Unity has a higher frequency of flights. This announcement is a momentous event for the company, staff, and those in the space industry as a whole.
Palermo highlighted that their diligent team have been able to increase the frequency of flight tests for the VSS Unity. The team’s hard work has allowed them to rapidly make progress in refining their spaceline system, and have been toeing on-schedule milestones along the way.
This is great news for Virgin Galactic, as it could potentially mean that space rides for passengers will soon be on the horizon. Furthermore, with more successful test flights, the company will be able to solicit more data about the vehicles and accumulate more knowledge on how to improve their safety measures.
This latest development is yet another step towards the achievement of Virgin Galactic’s primary goal – to make space travel accessible to the rest of the world, providing a new level of exploration and discovery for those who have ever dreamed of flight. It is also a reminder that the world of space exploration is steadily moving towards a more promising future.
With the advancement of technology, the capacity for exploration and discovery is increasing, and the promise of space tourism is likely to become a reality in the near future. With the successes of VSS Unity, no doubt many space enthusiasts and budding astronauts are looking forward to experiencing the unforgettable journey to the outer limits of the universe.
