Türkiye’s 2nd space traveler to be on final flight of Virgin Galactic suborbital craft

NEW MEXICO

Türkiye’s second space traveler, Tuva Cihangir Atasever, will take a suborbital research flight on Saturday aboard the Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity from the U.S. state of New Mexico, marking the craft’s final flight.

The VSS Unity features a hybrid propulsion system, and two expert pilots, allowing the craft to land back on Earth after it is launched into space, all the while reaching three times the speed of sound within a minute, and an altitude of over 15 kilometers (9.32 miles).

The craft had its first space flight in December 2018, and its first crewed flight in July 2021, before starting to be used as a commercial spacecraft in July 2023.

The craft’s final flight, designated Galactic 07, will be its swan song, and Atasever will be there.

US-based space tourism firm Virgin Galactic announced in May that it had opened a new facility in Southern California to produce next-generation Delta spacecraft, which can perform eight missions a month.

Atasever’s turn touching the heavens follows premier Turkish astronaut Alper Gezeravci’s historic mission this January to the International Space Station as part of the Axiom Mission 3 mission.

*Writing by Emir Yildirim in Istanbul