One of the space tourists is Kisha Shaf, who is married to an Israeli and wears the Israeli flag. In addition, her 18-year-old daughter Anastasia Myers flew - the first combination of mother and daughter on a space flight. During the flight, the Unity spacecraft reached an altitude of 88 km and the passengers felt a few minutes of low gravity
Virgin Galactic space flight 02 landed safely, included four women including Kisha Shaf, married to an Israeli who wore the flags of Antigua and Israel on her arm, as well as a pilot.
Virgin Galactic's second private space flight took off earlier from Spaceport Port America in New Mexico for a suborbital flight in space during which the passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness which they used to view the Earth from the windows of the Unity spacecraft.
The flight used the Virgin Galactic Air Launch System, which consisted of the VMS Eve carrier aircraft and the VSS Unity spacecraft. Eve brought Unity up to about 50,000 feet before releasing her.
Unity's rocket engine was activated after release from the carrier plane and accelerated the spacecraft to a maximum speed of Mach 3. Unity reached a record height of 88.5 km and crossed the border into space.
The flight set a new record for most women in a commercial space flight, with four women on board - two pilots and two passengers.
Unity experienced several minutes of weightlessness during the flight before gliding back down and landing at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The total flight time was one hour and 15 minutes, of which one minute was spent burning rocket fuel.
The flight tested the interior of the passenger cabin and the upgraded seats, as well as new commercial operating procedures that will be implemented as Virgin Galactic moves closer to a scheduled commercial service of once a month.
Unity is now certified for monthly commercial flights, with the ability to fly private astronauts to and from space on a routine basis.
The three passengers are John Williams, as well as a mother named Kisha Sheaf and her daughter Anastasia Myers.
Kisha Sheaf won her seat on the Galactic-02 team as part of a Space for Humanity fundraising contest. Part of the organization's mission is to share the perspective of space, and the cognitive phenomenon known as the overview effect, with as wide a range of humanity as possible.
Sheaf, 46 years old, has lived all her life in the Caribbean country, Antigua and Barbuda. According to her, her love for the stars led her to a journey to Buddhism, and eventually, to a career as a health and wellness coach. In India she met her Israeli husband. Her winnings in the contest included a second ticket, which she gave as a gift to her daughter, Anastacia Myers. The two are the first people from the Caribbean to fly into space, and it will be a lifelong dream come true for both of them.
Anastasia Myers, Kisha's daughter, is an 18-year-old student at the University of Aberdeen in the UK. She studies philosophy and physics and is grateful that her mother chose her as her space mate, although she laughs that she didn't give her a choice.
Sheaf wore on her arm the flag of her homeland as well as the flag of Israel. Meyers presented the flag of Scotland in addition to the flag of Antigua.
The third passenger is John Goodwin, a former British Olympian who was part of the kayak team at the 1972 Munich Games. Now 80, Goodwin has lived with a Parkinson's diagnosis for the past nine years, but says he doesn't let it slow him down.
Since his diagnosis, Goodwin has maintained an active lifestyle. Among his other adventures, he climbed, then cycled, Mount Kilimanjaro. Now, he will become the second person with Parkinson's to fly into space.
Also flying with them was Beth Moses - Virgin Galactic's chief instructor for space flights. She trained the passengers on this flight and joined to collect data to improve the passenger experience on future flights.
CJ Sturckow – one of the two pilots of the spaceship Unity. An experienced pilot with extensive experience in aviation and space.
Kelly Latimer - Unity's second squadron. She is also an experienced pilot with a lot of experience. Along with Mozes, Sheaf and Meyers, she was part of the largest female crew to fly into space in a single flight.
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