He bought his ticket with the private space company Virgin Galactic back in 2007. Almost 17 years later, the launch of the “Galactic 06” mission from “Spaceport America” in the US state of New Mexico is planned for Friday. The trip into space promises three to seven minutes of weightlessness.
The entrepreneur from Sallingberg (Lower Austria) is known as “Astronaut 025” by the company Virgin Galactic, founded in 2004 by British billionaire Richard Branson. According to the company, he is one of the first passengers to take a commercial flight following a long development period, first with the carrier aircraft “VMS Eve” to an altitude of around 15 kilometers and from there with the spaceship “VSS Unity”, which looks like a private jet around 90 kilometers altitude. According to the definition of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), this is enough to be listed as an “astronaut”. In addition to Haider, three other space tourists and two pilots are on board.
Franz Haider (l.) 2016 with “Virgin Galactic” founder Richard Branson:
g-forces up to six times the weight
After decoupling from the “mother ship”, the just over 18 meter long “VSS Unity” accelerates in an almost vertical climb to up to 3,600 kilometers per hour. During this maneuver, weightlessness is achieved before the apex, which the vehicle passes upside down. The crew can then loosen their harnesses and float freely in the cabin for some time. When re-entering the atmosphere, the crew then has to withstand g-forces of up to six times their body weight.
He “always expected that I would fly,” said Haider before the flight, which should last around two and a half hours. The ticket cost him $200,000 at the time. For new buyers, the price is now more than double the amount.
According to calculations by the Austrian Space Forum (ÖWF), the CO2 emissions from the venture are roughly comparable to the per capita emissions of a transatlantic flight. “By 2031, annual suborbital flights are forecast to increase tenfold to around 800 launches, which will then account for around one percent of the CO2 emissions caused by civil flights. In addition to the government space programs, a new market is being established in low Earth orbit and in the Privately run space stations can also be expected in the next decade,” said ÖWF boss Gernot Grömer in a press release.
Virgin Galactic was only able to start transporting tourists into space in July last year, and further commercial flights followed almost every month. At the end of 2018, the “VSS Unity” succeeded in venturing into space for the first time, and in 2021 a team with company founder Branson on board was able to complete the flight. This was preceded by many years of development work and many setbacks.
