 VSS Unity in February 2016 | |
| Mission type | Crewed suborbital spaceflight |
|---|---|
| Operator | Virgin Galactic |
| Apogee | 82.7 kilometres (51.4 miles) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | VSS Unity |
| Spacecraft type | SpaceShipTwo |
| Manufacturer | The Spaceship Company |
| Crew | |
| Members | |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 13 December 2018 |
| Launch site | Mojave Runway 30 |
| Deployed from | VMS Eve |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 13 December 2018 |
| Landing site | Mojave Runway 30 |
VP-03 (also referred to in some sources as PF04) was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity which took place on 13 December 2018, piloted by Mark P. Stucky and co-piloted by Frederick W. "CJ" Sturckow.
VSS Unity was carried aloft by the White Knight Two carrier plane before being released. The spacecraft reached an apogee of 82.7 km (51.4 mi); the flight satisfied the United States definition of spaceflight (50 mi (80.47 km)) but fell short of the Kármán line (100 km (62.14 mi)), the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale definition.[1] The flight was operated by Virgin Galactic, a private company led by Richard Branson who conducted a space tourism flight on 11 July 2021. It was the first crewed spaceflight from U.S. soil since the Space Shuttle mission STS-135 in 2011.
- ^ Grush, Loren (December 13, 2018). "Virgin Galactic's spaceplane finally makes it to space for the first time". The Verge.