News Summary

• Previous commercial flights had three customers on board along with a Virgin Galactic astronaut trainer.As with some recent flights, Virgin Galactic disclosed the identities of the four private astronauts only after the end of the mission..
• The vehicle reached a peak altitude of 88.8 kilometers before gliding back to a runway landing at the spaceport at 12:56 p.m. Eastern, according to data provided by the companyThe flight, called Galactic 06 by Virgin Galactic, carried four customers for the first time, along with its two pilots..
• WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic conducted its first suborbital mission of 2024 on Jan. 26 as the company prepares end flights of its current spaceplane.The VSS Unity spaceplane, attached the VMS Eve mothership aircraft, took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico at 12 p.m. Eastern..
• Those future vehicles are intended to fly more frequently and at lower costs than Unity.Virgin Galactic said then that, after Galactic 06, it would fly Unity again on Galactic 07 in the second quarter of the year and, perhaps, a Galactic 08 mission in mid-2024..
• Sturckow with Nicola Pecile as pilot.Virgin Galactic also did not provide a webcast of the launch, as on some previous flights, instead providing updates on social media..
• Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews..