Virgin Galactic Unity 22: 2021 crewed suborbital spaceflight
Virgin Galactic Unity 22 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity which launched on 11 July 2021.
(See Virgin Galactic.)
The crew were pilots David Mackay and Michael Masucci as well as passengers Sirisha Bandla, Colin Bennett, Beth Moses, and Richard Branson.
On 7 June 2021, Jeff Bezos announced that he is planning to be on the first crewed flight of his company Blue Origin. In the following days, rumors began to spread that Richard Branson was filing paperwork to make a similar flight, beating Bezos. The fight between Branson and Bezos led the media to call it a "billionaire space race". However, shortly before the flight, Bezos offered well wishes to Branson. SpaceX founder and chief executive officer Elon Musk personally met with Branson shortly before the flight.
Outside restricted airspace
The rocket plane Unity flew outside restricted airspace; That happened for 1 minute and 41 seconds. The Federal Aviation Administration investigated in September 2021; the plane was not allowed to fly until the investigation finished. The SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes were allowed to fly again on September 29, after the FAA decided to expand (or make larger) the restricted aerospace around the vehicle's flight range.
References
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