In June of 2023 Virgin Galactic began commercial flights of its VSS Unity spaceplane for paying customers. Its ticket holders wait list to fly is over 800 long, with only four available seats, that’s a lot of flying just to get through existing customers and more are on the way. So how many flights has Virgin Galactic performed? Here’s a list of every flight from Virgin Galactic in the year 2023.
Virgin Galactic has flown seven total flights with VSS Unity in 2023 – three tourism, one research, and two test flights.
Virgin Galactic 2023 flights at a glance
Number of flights: 7 (Tourism: 3, Research: 1, Test: 2)
Flight rate: 40 days
Total crew: 32 (VG Staff: 20, Researchers: 3, Tourists: 9)
Unique crew: 21
Unity’s year after long refurbishments
Before Unity 24’s flight in April of 2023, Virgin Galactic’s last flight was the world news breaking spaceflight of the company’s founder Richard Branson in 2021. If you don’t remember the showdown that ensued during that time period let me remind you.
Both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin were gearing up to launch their founders on their respective spacecraft. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin was hoping to make it first on their New Shepard rocket alongside his brother. However, on July 11, nine days before Bezos’ flight, Unity 22 flew to the edges of space.
Post Branson and Bezos’ flights, the world expected a race between the two companies as to who can launch the most tourists to space. That did not and still has yet to happen. Post Unity 22, the FAA grounded Virgin Galactic after an investigation into a mishap that took place during the historic mission. After the investigation was closed, Virgin Galactic decided to keep its aircraft on the ground to complete upgrades and refurbishments on both its VSS Unity spaceplane and VMS Eve mothership.
Virgin Galactic resurgence post Blue Origin grounding
That refurbishment and FAA investigation gave Blue Origin the room to dominate the headlines and become the poster child for space tourism. Launching six more times with five of those having paying customers on them, New Shepard was considered king of sub-orbital joy rides.
That was until the company’s seventh post Bezos flight earlier this year where it suffered an anomaly in the booster’s engine. Luckily the flight was uncrewed, carrying only research payloads, and the capsule’s abort motor saved it from destruction. New Shepard has was grounded as the FAA and Blue Origin determine the cause of the failure and solve the problem. Even though the investigation is over, we are still awaiting word on when Blue Origin will fly again.
Since then, Virgin Galactic has taken control with return to flight in April of this year with test flights and then flying its first customers in June on Galactic 01. Virgin Galactic has brought a cadence of flights (full list below) in 2023 that Blue Origin has never been able to match. Flying monthly for five straight months as of writing this in October.
Virgin Galactic has also proven an ability that Blue Origin hasn’t shown it can do, human tended research flights. Galactic 01 showed this capability with Italian researchers conducting several experiments while in micro-gravity. The company plans to make this a regular offering with other institutions, including NASA.
List of Virgin Galactic flights in 2023
All flights took off using the mothership White Knight Two and the SpacePlaneTwo VSS Unity from Spaceport America, New Mexico.
Key: Bold: Flight crew
Italics: Virgin Galactic employee
| Date | Mission | Crew | Type | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 26 | Unity 24 | CJ Sturckow Nicola Pecile | Test | 9:00 |
| May 25 | Unity 25 | Michael Masucci CJ Sturckow Beth Moses Luke Mays Jamila Gilbert Christopher Huie | Test | 14:00 |
| June 29 | Galactic 01 | Michael Masucci Nicola Pecile Colin Bennett Walter Villadei Pantaleone Carlucci Angelo Landolfi | Research | 13:50 |
| August 10 | Galactic 02 | CJ Sturckow Kelly Latimer Beth Moses Jon Goodwin Keisha Schahaff Anastatia Mayers | Tourism | 15:38 |
| September 8 | Galactic 03 | Nicola Pecile Michael Masucci Beth Moses Ken Baxter Timothy Nash Adrian Reynard | Tourism | 12:37 |
| October 6 | Galactic 04 | Kelly Latimer CJ Sturckow Beth Moses Ron Rosano Trevor Beattie Namira Salim | Tourism | 14:23 |
| November 2 | Galactic 05 | Michael Masucci Kelly Latimer Colin Bennett Dr. Alan Stern Kelllie Gerardi Ketty Maisonrouge | Research / Tourism | 14:20 |
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