Richard Branson owned Virgin Galactic on Thursday launched first-time tourists into space. The tourists included a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean and a former British Olympian.
Keisha Schahaff, an entrepreneur and health and wellness consultant, and her daughter Anastatia Mayers, an 18-year-old student at Aberdeen University took their first journey into space ever alongside former British Olympian Jon Goodwin who is said to have purchased his ticket 18 years ago.
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CNN reported that Anastatia Mayers described the moment she first saw Earth as “starstruck”. Her mother described the experience as a fulfillment of her childhood dream.
I have no words. The only thought I had the whole time was ‘Wow!
Mayers said
A childhood dream has come true.
Ms. Schahaff said
Their seats were won in a draw meant to raise money for the charity Space for Humanity. The 46-year-old mother won the two seats while traveling to the UK to prepare her daughter’s visa. Ms. Keisha claimed that an advertisement for a contest to win a trip to space surfaced unexpectedly when she was flying with Virgin Atlantic from Antigua to London. As a result, she decided to enter the contest and consequently won her daughter and herself seats on Virgin Galactic.
80-year-old Jon Goodwin described his trip as a ‘completely surreal experience’. The former British Olympian is reported to have participated as a canoeist in the 1972 Munich Games.
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Following the success of Galactic 02, Virgin Galactic can begin scheduling regular flights, making commercial space tourism a reality. A statement by the CEO of Virgin Galactic indicated that the company intended to launch monthly flights. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has now joined Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin in the industry. There are 800 persons on the Virgin Galactic waiting list, the business claims.
