Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic To Include 1st Pakistani Space Traveler In Next Launch This Week

British billionaire Richard Branson-founded space travel company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc SPCE said on Sunday that the company’s Galactic 04 spaceflight will take place on Oct. 6.

What Happened: The flight window of Galactic 04 opens on Oct. 5. However, the company decided to launch on Friday to give its team an additional day to complete vehicle prep and checks.

“We look forward to taking to the skies in a few days!,” the company wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The three private astronauts flying to space on this mission are from the U.S., UK, and Pakistan. The individual from Pakistan will be the first from his country to fly to space.

Why It Matters: Virgin Galactic commenced commercial spaceline operations in June this year.

The aerospace company had suspended flights of spaceplane VSS Unity and its carrier plane VMS Eve to make enhancements in 2021, putting the company's commercial service launch on hold.

Galactic 01 flew in June this year after being delayed from 2021 with three members from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy.

Galactic 02 took 3 private astronauts to space including a mother-daughter duo. Galactic 03, meanwhile, took customers who had bought their tickets as early as 2005.

Galactic 04 will be the company’s fifth spaceflight this year and ninth spaceflight to date.

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Image: Virgin Galactic