Virgin Galactic spacecraft makes first flight into space

Virgin Galactic's fourth test flight reached space without any problems with two pilots on board. A feat for the American space industry which since 2011 had not sent anyone into space. More than 600 tourists have already reserved a place on board SpaceShipTwo.

The Virgin Galactic company on Thursday sent a spacecraft beyond the frontier of space, as defined by the United States military, for the first time. This flight is a major victory for the company headed by Briton Richard Branson, which wants to send tourists into space for a price of 250,000 dollars per seat.

The United States had not sent anyone into space since the shutdown of NASA's space shuttle program in 2011. Space agencies around the world have since depended on Russian Soyuz rockets to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station ( ISS). Meanwhile, a booming space industry is battling to become the first private company to build spacecraft capable of sending astronauts and tourists into space.

Mach 2.9", or about 3550 km/h

In this race, Virgin Galactic reached an important milestone on Thursday: its SpaceShipTwo device - called VSS Unity - reached an altitude of 82.7 kilometers. "Today, for the first time in history, a spacecraft built to carry private travelers reached space," Richard Branson said in a statement. "It's a momentous day and I couldn't be more proud of our teams who together have opened a new chapter in space exploration," he said.

The spaceship did not take off from Earth but was blown into the air by a plane, which left from the "spaceport" of Mojave in California. After being jettisoned, the two pilots on board ignited their rocket engines skyward for 60 seconds. "Welcome to space," the band wrote on Twitter. "We traveled at Mach 2.9", or about 3,550 km / h and "2.9 times the speed of sound", he said.

The frontier of space is commonly accepted to be 100 km above sea level, but the US military considers it to be a little lower, at 50 miles (about 80.4 km). Airliners fly at an altitude of about 10 km.

"What we have witnessed today is the most compelling evidence that space commerce is set to become one of the premier industries of the 21st century," said George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic.

More than 600 tourists have reserved their place

The US space agency had paid Virgin Galactic to board VSS Unity with four technological and scientific experiments, making this flight "the first revenue generator" for the group. "Congratulations to Virgin Galactic on their successful flight of SpaceShipTwo into suborbital space," NASA tweeted.

Richard Branson told CNN in November that he hoped to see his pilots reach space "before Christmas." In July, after igniting its rocket for 42 seconds, VSS Unity had reached 52 km, in the part of the atmosphere called the mesosphere, beyond the stratosphere.

Two more billionaires want to beat Virgin Galactic

Another American company is in the running to become the first to send passengers into space: Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, boss of Amazon. But the latter chose to do it with a small rocket.

SpaceX and Northrop Grumman send capsules from the United States to supply the ISS with food and equipment, but not astronauts. The first manned flight tests from SpaceX and Boeing are expected in 2019.

The date of Virgin Galactic's first commercial flight has been repeatedly pushed back, in particular due to the accident that claimed the life of a co-pilot during a test flight in 2014. More than 600 customers have already paid 250,000 dollars to reserve their place. “Space commerce has great potential for the American economy,” said Dan Elwell, head of the American air regulator (FAA). "We are pleased that Virgin Galactic is one of many space pioneers, helping to write a new chapter in aerospace history," he said.