Galactic 05 was a crewed sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity, which launched on 2 November 2023. It was the fifth commercial spaceflight and tenth overall spaceflight for American aerospace company Virgin Galactic.[1]
Crew
Galactic 05's crew included three private passengers and three Virgin Galactic employees.
Position | Crew | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Michael Masucci Sixth spaceflight | |
Pilot | Kelly Latimer Third spaceflight | |
Astronaut instructor | Colin Bennett Third spaceflight | |
Researcher | Alan Stern First spaceflight | |
Researcher | Kellie Gerardi First spaceflight | |
Tourist | Ketty Maisonrouge First spaceflight |
Stern performed studies of human body's reaction to zero-gravity by wearing a biomedical monitoring harness. He also wanted to develop in-space operation of a particular high-tech camera that is planned to be used on an astronomical research mission in the future by NASA. His flight and research were financed by Southwest Research Institute.[2]
Gerardi flew the Galactic 05 mission as a payload specialist doing scientific research with Alan Stern, a private passenger also on board. Onboard, Gerardi operated three biomedical and thermodynamic fluid experiments on behalf of IIAS (International Institute for Astronautical Sciences, a private international education and research facility). Gerardi operated a fluid cell designed to help better predict and control the shape and location of fluid within a container in microgravity. She also wore the Astroskin biomonitoring device to collect a wide range of biometric data during her flight. A third experiment studied insulin-resistance during spaceflight, and Gerardi wore a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to measure and store glucose readings. Her flight was paid for by IIAS and the research done was developed by National Research Council of Canada.[2][3]
References
- ^ Virgin Galactic (2 November 2023). "VIRGIN GALACTIC COMPLETES SIXTH SUCCESSFUL SPACEFLIGHT IN SIX MONTHS". Virgin Galactic. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
- ^ a b Harwood, William (2 November 2023). "Virgin Galactic launches fifth commercial flight to sub-orbital space and back". CBS News. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ Etherington, Darrell (3 June 2021). "Virgin Galactic to fly Kellie Gerardi to space on a dedicated research mission". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 June 2024.