Virgin Galactic live updates: Galatic 01 crew safely returns to Earth
The team took off on VSSUnity, a sub-rocket-powered crew plane that was attached to a larger “mothership” aircraft called the VMS Eve.
VMS Eve launches similarly to a commercial airliner, and when it reaches an altitude of more than 40,000 feet, it releases VSS Unity, activating its rocket engines.
VSS Unity then reached its intended altitude of 50 miles above the Earth’s surface, which is considered the edge of outer space. After a few minutes in zero gravity, it began to free-fall and returned to the spaceport in New Mexico for a landing.
