Virgin Galactic launches fifth commercial flight to sub-orbital space and back
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Planetary scientist Alan Stern, who spearheaded NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, enjoyed a spaceflight of his own Thursday, soaring to the edge of space and back aboard Virgin Galactic's winged spaceplane, chalking up the company's fifth commercial sub-orbital flight . Stern, researcher and STEM "influencer" Kellie Gerardi, Italian investment manager Ketty Maisonrouge, two Virgin Galactic pilots and a company trainer were carried aloft by a carrier jet that released the Unity spaceplane at an altitude of about 44,700 feet above the New Mexico desert. The hybrid motor powering Virgin Galactic's Unity spaceplane ignites high above New Mexico Thursday, propelling the craft to the lower edge of space in the company's tenth sub-orbital flight out of the discernible atmosphere. Virgin Galactic At the controls were Unity commande