Virgin Galactic announced on Thursday that the window for its next rocket-powered SpaceShipTwo Unity test flight opens July 11, pending weather and technical checks.
If the launch goes ahead, it means the company's founder and billionaire Richard Branson would travel into space nine days before fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos attempts a similar trip with Blue Origin. The Unity 22 mission marks a number of milestones for Virgin Galactic, most notably the firm's fourth crewed spaceflight and first to carry a full crew of two pilots and four mission specialists—including Branson, who is "testing the private astronaut experience."
"I truly believe that space belongs to all of us," the English business magnate said in a statement. "It's one thing to have a dream of making space more accessible for all; it's another for an incredible team to collectively turn that dream into reality."
Tune in to VirginGalactic.com, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook at 9 a.m. ET on the day of the flight to watch a global live stream of the launch. The mission is led by VSS Unity pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, with mission specialists Beth Moses (chief astronaut instructor), Colin Bennett (lead operations engineer), Sirisha Bandla (VP of government affairs and research operations), and Branson, who is undergoing the same training and preparation as Virgin Galactic's future astronauts.
Unity 22 will focus on customer experience objectives like evaluating cabin environment, seat comfort, weightless experience, and Earth views. It will also help to demonstrate conditions for human-tended research and confirm the efficacy of Spaceport America's training program. Two additional flight tests are planned before Virgin Galactic expects to offer a commercial service in 2022.