Virgin Galactic’s first industrial spaceflight, as a consequence of launch on Thursday, draws comparisons to last week’s Titan submarine tragedy.
The corporate, a part of billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, announced this week it will send three Italians and a Virgin Galactic flight instructor to the Galactic 01 mission because it sells tickets for future space trips for $450,000.
When social media account Pubity, which has 33 million followers, posted Virgin Galactic’s announcement together with a promotional video on Monday, several Instagram users raised concerns over the fatal implosion of the OceanGate submarine during a costly voyage to explore the wreck of the Titanic.
“No thanks, I don’t need to be wanted in space with oxygen levels for two hours,” one person wrote.
“So that they didn’t learn with the sub?” one other wondered.
![Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson answers students' questions during a press conference at Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, NM, July 11, 2021.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000011727578-1.jpg?w=1024)
“No thanks, I’d reasonably die for nothing,” another person joked.
The Post contacted Branson’s representatives for comment.
Some were quick to argue that going to space was easier.
“The reality is, it’s easier to enter space than to the underside of the ocean…” someone said defending the mission.
Branson, 72, has been working within the space industry for greater than 20 years and has had several spaceflights under his belt – but prior to now they were reserved for astronauts and other people with aviation experience.
Even then, spaceflight missions often experience delays as a consequence of aspects comparable to weather, technical issues, and other unexpected circumstances.
For instance, in July 2007, three employees were killed and three seriously injured at Mojave Air and Space Port in California while testing components for the primary SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise.
Branson planned to launch tourists into space in 2013 before pushing that schedule to 2015. Federal government approval was finally granted in 2021.
The last test flight was accomplished in May after the corporate made security improvements to its fleet.
Colonel Walter Villadei and Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Landolfi of the Italian Air Force and Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer from the Italian National Research Council, will join Virgin Galactic astronaut Colin Bennett on a historic spaceflight.
The crew is predicted to board VSS Unity in Recent Mexico after 11 a.m. Thursday for a 90-minute flight to conduct microgravity research. As a part of the mission, the crew will conduct 13 “autonomous human-led experiments.”
![In this file, a photo taken on December 13, 2018. Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity lands after a suborbital test flight in Mojave, California](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000009973784-1.jpg?w=1024)
![This image posted by Virgin Galactic shows the view of the Earth from a Virgin Galactic rocket plane as it reaches an altitude of more than 54 miles during a test flight on Thursday, May 25, 2023. Virgin Galactic completed its final test flight on Thursday before taking paying customers on short trips in cosmos.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000011731550-1.jpg?w=1024)
Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in an announcement on Monday that “the corporate’s research missions will usher in a latest era of repeatable and reliable access to space for presidency and research institutions in the approaching years.”
“We’re launching the primary industrial spaceline for Earth with two dynamic products – our scientific research and astronauts’ private space missions,” added Coglazier. “The following exciting chapter at Virgin Galactic was fueled by innovation, determination and commitment to deliver unparalleled and truly transformative customer experiences.”
In August, the corporate plans to launch flights to the sting of space for ticket holders, starting with Galactic 02. Flights are expected to run on a monthly basis.
About 800 tickets were sold within the last decade.
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The initial batch cost $200,000 and the worth increased to $450,000 per person.
If the mission is successful, Virgin Galactic could compete with rival corporations offering industrial passenger flights to space, comparable to SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin.
Virgin Galactic’s launch details come days after the US Coast Guard announced that debris from the Titan submarine had been found on the underside of the North Atlantic Ocean near the wreck of the Titanic.
The submarine was carrying five people as a part of a tourist expedition on June 18 to see what was left of the Titanic. Communication with Titan was lost after 105 minutes of the dive, and authorities were alerted when it did not resurface at its scheduled time later that day.
![On Monday, June 19, 2023, a rescue operation was underway in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean for a high-tech submersible carrying five people to document the wreck of the Titanic, the iconic ocean liner that sank more than a century earlier.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012924343-2.jpg?w=1024)
Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet were killed within the implosion.
Titan made its first dive on Titanic in July 2021. OceanGate made six dives on Titanic in 2021 and 7 in 2022.