Watch the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 spaceflight mission with founder Richard Branson here

Published July 11, 2021 4:20 AM, by Shack Staff

Billionaires and space are super hot right now, and Richard Branson definitely fits the bill. His company Virgin Galactic is set to lift off with their first mission with a full crew. What better time for the billionaire founder to join in on the fun, right? Let's watch Virgin Galactic Unity 22 Spaceflight Livestream here. Please take a look.

Here's a breakdown of Virgin Galactic Unity 22 Spaceflight Mission from the company:

The “Unity 22” mission will be the twenty-second flight test for VSS Unity and the Company’s fourth crewed spaceflight. It will also be the first to carry a full crew of two pilots and four mission specialists in the cabin, including the Company’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, who will be testing the private astronaut experience.

Building on the success of the Company’s most recent spaceflight in May, Unity 22 will focus on cabin and customer experience objectives, including:

• Evaluating the commercial customer cabin with a full crew, including the cabin environment, seat comfort, the weightless experience, and the views of Earth that the spaceship delivers — all to ensure every moment of the astronaut’s journey maximizes the wonder and awe created by space travel
• Demonstrating the conditions for conducting human-tended research experiments
• Confirming the training program at Spaceport America supports the spaceflight experience

The flight’s four mission specialists will be:

• Beth Moses, Chief Astronaut Instructor at Virgin Galactic. Moses will serve as cabin lead and test director in space, overseeing the safe and efficient execution of the test flight objectives.
• Colin Bennett, Lead Operations Engineer at Virgin Galactic. Bennett will evaluate cabin equipment, procedures, and experience during both the boost phase and in the weightless environment.
• Sirisha Bandla, Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations at Virgin Galactic. Bandla will be evaluating the human-tended research experience, using an experiment from the University of Florida that requires several handheld fixation tubes that will be activated at various points in the flight profile.
• Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic. Branson will evaluate the private astronaut experience and will undergo the same training, preparation and flight as Virgin Galactic’s future astronauts. The Company will use his observations from his flight training and spaceflight experience to enhance the journey for all future astronaut customers.

The pilots for this mission are Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci flying VSS Unity, and CJ Sturckow and Kelly Latimer flying VMS Eve.

Following this flight, and in line with normal procedures, the team will complete inspections of the vehicles and an extensive data review, which will inform the next steps in the test flight program. Two additional test flights are planned before the Company expects to commence commercial service in 2022.

Sir Richard Branson said: “I truly believe that space belongs to all of us. After more than 16 years of research, engineering, and testing, Virgin Galactic stands at the vanguard of a new commercial space industry, which is set to open space to humankind and change the world for good. It’s one thing to have a dream of making space more accessible to all; it’s another for an incredible team to collectively turn that dream into reality. As part of a remarkable crew of mission specialists, I’m honoured to help validate the journey our future astronauts will undertake and ensure we deliver the unique customer experience people expect from Virgin.”

What time does Virgin Galactic Unity 22 launch?

The Virgin Galactic Unity 22 Spaceflight Livestream is expected to begin at 6:00 am PDT / 9:00 am EDT / 2 pm BST on the July 11, 2021.

Where to watch the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 space flight mission?

For the first time ever, Virgin Galactic will share a global livestream of the spaceflight. Audiences around the world are invited to participate virtually in the Unity 22 test flight and see first-hand the extraordinary experience Virgin Galactic is creating for future astronauts. The livestream will be available to watch on VirginGalactic.com and will be simulcast on the Virgin Galactic Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook channels.

Today's Unity 22 mission is only set to last 22 seconds. If weather and conditions hold up for launch, Sir Richard Branson and his crew will be back on land in no time. One of his fellow billionaire space men will even be in attendance to wish him well, and it isn't Jeff Bezos.

That's right, SpaceX Founder Elon Musk will be there to cheer on his billionaire buddy Branson before he blasts off. If you were asleep when it all went down, be sure to check out the VOD which will be embedded at the top of the article.