Future of tourism: Virgin Galactic takes first passengers into space

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Virgin Galactic launched its first tourist passengers into the weightlessness of space Thursday, the culmination of a nearly two-decade commercial pursuit, the company said. The three passengers — Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff, and her teenage daughter Anastatia Mayers — floated gravity-free through the Virgin spacecraft about 45 minutes after taking off. «They are officially astronauts.

Welcome to space,» said Virgin Galactic announcer Sirisha Bandla as the spacecraft pushed above 80 kilometers (50 miles) in altitude, the level marking the edge of space where the pull of gravity is minimal. Live video showed the three admiring views of Earth and space through the windows. After a few minutes in space, the craft began descending and safely landed in the US state of New Mexico, on the same runway from which it took off.

The flight was «without a doubt the most exciting day of my life, said Goodwin, 80, an adventurer who competed in the 1972 Olympic Games as a canoeist for Britain. »The pure acceleration, Mach-3 in eight-and-a-half seconds was completely surreal," he said. «It was incredible and I'm still starstruck,» said Mayers, who at 18 became the youngest person ever to go into space, according to the company.

Three passengers gained tickets to participate in Galactic's private astronaut mission in a sweepstake contest. England's Jon Goodwin will be the first Olympian to travel to space, and the second person in space with Parkinson's disease. Keisha.