Leisure Trip to Space; 'Coming Soon'

Finally, after several years of effort and research, Virgin Galactic, as a space tourism company, has managed to bring its aircraft to the 'boundaries' of space. The company has announced that it has sold many tickets for leisure trips to the edge of space at a price of $250,000. The aircraft that has approached the edge of space is named VSS Unity, which has kept its rocket engine ignited for a relatively long time to ascend to a height of 80 kilometers above sea level on December 13, a point considered the edge of space by the U.S. Air Force. This aircraft is manufactured by Scaled Composites in the United States, a company that produces commercial aerospace products and was founded in California in 1982, now owned by Northrop Grumman. Virgin Galactic initially conducted short flights with the VSS Unity rocket engine and gradually increased the duration of the rocket's operation until it finally ascended to an altitude of 82.7 kilometers at a maximum speed of 2.9. The company claims that the flight capability of its aircraft is much greater than this figure, as it kept its engine running for a total of 60 seconds to reach this altitude. The company aims to take wealthy tourists to the edge of space with its spacecraft, where passengers can experience a few minutes in weightlessness. In this flight, the VSS Unity was carried to an altitude of approximately 13.7 kilometers by the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, where it was released, and at this altitude, the main engines were ignited to reach the boundaries of space. WhiteKnightTwo is a four-engine jet developed by Scaled Composites, with VSS Unity being attached beneath its wings. In recent years, the company faced setbacks in reaching the boundaries of space with its aircraft. Initially, the company referred to VSS Enterprise as its first spacecraft, which was supposed to go to space by 2009, a plan that failed as the aircraft could only ascend to 22 kilometers. In another attempt in 2014, VSS Enterprise encountered an accident during its test flight. Now, the successful flight of 'Unity' marks the end of previous unsuccessful efforts. However, there is a disagreement over the boundaries of space. NASA and the U.S. Air Force consider the 80-kilometer mark as the edge of space, while the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) places this boundary at 100 kilometers above the Earth. Currently, NASA astronauts travel to space using Russian Soyuz rockets from Kazakhstan, and after the retirement of the shuttle, VSS Unity has managed to transport an individual from the U.S. to the edge of space after a long time. Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, announced after the successful flight of VSS Unity that commercial space flights will begin next year. There are challenges in developing this aircraft, particularly regarding the sustained operation of the rocket engine for a longer duration. If this rocket remains ignited for a longer period, it is likely that this aircraft will become a spacecraft and surpass the 100-kilometer boundary. If the flight plans proceed as scheduled, the company will prepare for its commercial flights. Space flights are set to take place from the Spaceport America airport in New Mexico. The company is only a few test flights away from reaching its commercial space flights, provided that everything goes well.