Virgin’s Unity spaceship sets a new altitude record of 52 kilometers

Virgin Galactic has been saying for some time that it will reach outer space this year, and on Thursday it came the closest it has ever gotten. During the third powered flight of the VSS Unity vehicle, the spacecraft reached an altitude of 52km (32.3 miles), just over halfway toward the Kármán line, which generally is regarded as the beginning of space. This is the first time that Virgin Galactic has flown into the mesosphere.

The company also released a few other details about the flight, noting that the spacecraft was released from its carrier aircraft at 14.2km, that its engine burned for 42 seconds, and that the vehicle reached a maximum speed of Mach 2.7. Pilots Dave Mackay and Mike “Sooch” Masucci flew the Unity vehicle on Wednesday morning from the Mojave Air & Space Port.

“It was a thrill from start to finish,” Mackay said after the flight in a company news release. “Unity’s rocket motor performed magnificently again, and Sooch pulled off a smooth landing. This was a new altitude record for both of us in the cockpit, not to mention our mannequin in the back, and the views of Earth from the black sky were magnificent.”