Today, Virgin Galactic successfully launched its spacecraft, VSS Unity, into space for the second time in two months, marking its 5 th supersonic rocket-powered flight. Several research and technology payloads, sponsored through the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Flight Opportunities program, were carried aboard VSS Unity during this latest flight. Flight Opportunities is an essential NASA initiative to give researchers frequent, low-cost access to the microgravity space environment for technology development, science, education, and applied research.

“Virgin Galactic’s latest launch to space represents another important milestone for the company and demonstrates continued progress towards establishing frequent, flexible, low-cost access to space forresearcher and student payloads, and future human participants,” said Taber MacCallum, Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) Chairman and Co-Founder and CTO of  World View. “It’s time for the U.S. Government to fully utilize the game-changing power of commercial reusable platforms such as VSS Unity and increase funding to NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, as well as other microgravity research efforts.”

“2019 is the year of launch,” said Eric Stallmer, Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) President. “Blue Origin’s New Shepard last month, Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity this month, and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon
scheduled for next month… what an exciting time for the commercial space industry and America’s leadership in space!”