‘Galactic 02’, First Private Astronaut Flight by Virgin Galactic, Completed at Spaceport America
(Las Cruces, NM) The summer of 2023 continues to serve as a pivotal – and historic – time span for both Spaceport America and Virgin Galactic.
Under clear skies Thursday morning, Virgin Galactic, the anchor tenant at Spaceport America, executed its third flight in just under four months from the Land of Enchantment by sending a trio of private astronauts to space on its ‘Galactic 02’ spaceflight.
Alongside astronaut instructor Beth Moses, a trio of private astronauts from international locales – Jon Goodwin (Great Britain), Keisha Schahaff (Antigua and Barbuda) and Anastatia Mayer (Antigua and Barbuda) – ventured to New Mexico for the first time in order to become the first private astronauts to embark on a journey to space.
“Virgin Galactic and Spaceport America are headed to routine flights to space,” explained Spaceport America executive director Scott McLaughlin, “That consistent schedule of flights has been our collective goal since 2006. New Mexico has patiently waited for these moments, so this is an exciting time – and an exciting future – for the region.”
In front of a multitude of local, regional and national media members, New Mexico was squarely in the national spotlight once again for the ‘Galactic 02’ spaceflight.
Establishing a number of historical milestones for Virgin Galactic, and for spaceflight, the ‘Galactic 02’ mission featured the highest number of female astronauts on a single mission (two).
For Schahaff and Mayers, they became the first mother-daughter duo to fly to the stars as well as the first astronauts from both the Caribbean and the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Goodwin, a participant in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, served as the second individual with Parkinson’s Disease to fly to space.
Thursday’s flight marks a major milestone in terms of private space tourism as none of the three international private astronauts had any kind of extensive prior training before traveling to the stars.
Commercial spaceflight in the region began in June of 2023 when Virgin Galactic’s ‘Galactic 01’ mission launched a crew of Italian Air Force officers into the cosmos for a research mission. The mission, which launched from Spaceport America, was the first of its kind for the country of Italy and brought a multitude of foreign nationals and foreign military personnel to the Land of Enchantment for over a week.
Virgin Galactic expects to launch roughly one commercial flight each month from Spaceport America through the conclusion of 2023. With a fleet of third-generation spacecrafts – the Delta-class – currently in production, Virgin Galactic’s launch cadence will increase further beginning in 2026. That step is another which continued to solidify the state of New Mexico as the premier destination for commercial spaceflight and private astronaut destination in the United States.
The partnership between Spaceport America and Virgin Galactic can be traced back to 2005 when then-Governor Bill Richardson and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson joined forces to make Spaceport America the location of Virgin Galactic’s operational headquarters.
Since May of 2021, all five of Virgin Galactic’s space flights have taken place from their Spaceport America site.