WHAT'S ON

A mother and daughter from the Caribbean and an 80-year-old Olympian with Parkinson’s become Virgin Galactic’s first space tourism crew.  The company, owned by Richard Branson, announced the trio on Monday, which will fly to the final frontier on Aug. 10.  Members include Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastasia Mayers, who won their place in a 2021 competition, and Jon Goodwin, who competed in the 1972 Munich Games. The launch is scheduled for August 10 at Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America in New Mexico and will see the “mothership” carrier lift off with the spaceplane attached to the underbelly.

Galactic 02 crew: (L-R) Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff and Anastasia Mayers will depart aboard Virgin Galactic’s space plane on August 10

Once the planes reach at least 45,000 feet, the rocket plane will separate and travel more than 50 miles above the Earth’s surface.  Virgin Galactic has already booked a backlog of 800 customers vying for their chance to go to space, made possible by the company’s inaugural mission in June.  Tickets first sold for $250,000 but have since risen to $450,000.

The company announced the Galactic 02 on July 13 but did not disclose which customers will board the Unity 22 spaceplane. Virgin Galactic sent three researchers in June who spent time in weightlessness to conduct research – the August mission is purely for fun.

Keisha Schahaff, from Antigua, won a competition with Omaze, a US for-profit fundraising company, for a one-time commercial trip to the last frontier aboard Virgin Galactic’s Unity 22.

Anastasia Mayers, the second youngest person to travel to space, is in her second year at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, studying Philosophy and Physics.  She wants to become an astrobiologist who thought life on the tiny island was impossible until her mother won the tickets aboard Unity.

Meet the adventurous crew flying first on the historic Galactic02 mission, following their dreams to space and redefining what it means to be an astronaut.