Virgin Galactic Just Went to Space for the First Time
Today will go down as historic for space travel, signifying a monumental way humans travel for leisure.
"For the first time in history, a crewed spaceship built to carry private, paying passengers reached space," Virgin Galactic Chairman Richard Branson tweeted.
Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity rocket reached suborbital space for the first time during a manned test flight Thursday. While both SpaceX and Blue Origin are private companies with a number of successes in space travel, as Branson said, this is the first time a crewed rocket built to carry paying passengers made it past the Earth's atmosphere.
The Unity took off from the Mojave Desert with support of its larger White Night "Mothership" aircraft.
Thousands of feet above the ground, Unity was dropped and its rocket ignited, powering the spacecraft to an altitude of 271,268 feet, or 51.4 miles above Earth.
Pictures show the rocket jetting through the outer-atmosphere:
A video shows Unity rocketing at suborbital altitude with Earth on one side -- and makes you realize how tiny we all are:
What makes the day even more monumental for Virgin Atlantic, which has been trying to get to space since 2004, is that its first spaceship broke apart during a test flight in 2014, killing the two crew members aboard. A separate explosion in 2007 killed three others during development.
Do note that some define reaching space once people are 62 miles from the earth's surface. The Unity also only hit suborbital altitudes as it's not a vehicle built for full orbit like the International Space Station.
In November, Branson said that Virgin would make it to space before Christmas, and in a recent podcast with TPG's Brian Kelly, the founder said that he will travel into space in 2019. Once more testing is complete, Virgin will start flying the 600+ people who prepaid for flights to space — which apparently includes Tom Hanks and Ashton Kutcher. It's unclear when that will be.
Virgin is selling trips to space for $250,000 per person, and if you have a large stash of Virgin miles, you can redeem them toward 10% off a flight on Unity. If you do decide to shell out a quarter of a million dollars for a seat, don't expect to stay up there long, as your time in space only allows for a few minutes of weightlessness.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is steadily working toward manned space flights, and SpaceX plans to take paying customers to the moon in 2023.
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| 2X miles | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase |
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Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month