Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE:SPCE) will today fly three of its longest-waiting customers on what will be its third commercial space tourism flight.
The passengers on the 'Galactic 03' mission bought their tickets as early as 2005 and have been patient members of the company's 'Future Astronaut' community since.
In what will be the company's fourth flight in as many months, the VMS Eve mothership will blast off from Earth at 10:30am US Eastern Time (2.30pm GMT).
Preparations are well underway for today’s #Galactic03 spaceflight in the hangar. Take-off is scheduled for 8:30am MDT. Stay tuned for live updates on X. pic.twitter.com/qPVAGlAYig
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) September 8, 2023
"The three Galactic 03 crewmembers are the first of Virgin Galactic's group of 'Founder' astronauts — the first customers whose forward-thinking vision and early ticket purchases helped make the dream of regular commercial spaceflights a reality," Virgin Galactic said in a statement last month.
The ticket price when the trio bought their tickets was much cheaper than the current US$450,000 starting price.
Last month, the company's first private astronaut flight took a trio that included the first mother and daughter duo to go to space, Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers from Antigua and Barbuda, also the first female astronauts from the Caribbean, with 18-year-old philosophy and physics student Anastatia the youngest person to go to space.
Also on the journey was former Olympian Jon Goodwin from the United Kingdom, the second person with Parkinson’s to go to space and the third oldest person to go to space.