Caribbean Mother and Daughter Fly to Space Onboard Virgin Galactic Flight
by Karen Rollins Aug 10, 2023
Antigua and Barbudan mother and daughter, Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers, have become the first female Caribbean astronauts to travel to space.
Ms Schahaff and her daughter won a fundraising sweepstake for their seats onboard a Virgin Galactic vessel which took off from New Mexico Spaceport on Thursday 10 August at 10.30am (Eastern Caribbean Time).
In a tweet, Virgin Galactic’s owner Richard Branson said he was in Antigua with Ms Schahaff’s mother, Florence, to see the spacecraft go into orbit.
Proud to be in Antigua and Barbuda to watch today’s historic @virgingalactic spaceflight alongside astronauts Keisha and Anastatia’s family and friends. Big hugs with Keisha’s mum Florence! #Galactic02 https://t.co/1313b4AxII pic.twitter.com/4cVnfltXjx
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) August 10, 2023
Virgin Galactic described the morning take off as “perfect” as the ‘VSS Unity’ rocket plane and its mothership ‘VMS Eve’ headed to the edge of space.
About 50 minutes after take-off, and following a series of checks, mission control gave VSS Unity the all-clear to detach at an altitude of 44,300ft.
The rocket then travelled towards space at 1,000km per hour (Mach 3). Cameras mounted outside captured the view and showed the curvature of the Earth. Footage from inside showed the passengers out of their seats, floating around weightless, and looking at Earth through the spacecraft’s windows.
What a day! Here are the #Galactic02 spaceflight stats!
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) August 10, 2023
⏰ Take-off Time
8:30 AM MDT
📍 Release Altitude
44,300 FT
🚀 Apogee
55 Miles
Top Speed
Mach 3
🌎 Landing Time
9:30 AM MDT
More info about today’s spaceflight: https://t.co/q2hdctgAqx pic.twitter.com/yoQzWna4aY
Eighty-year-old former British Olympian, Jon Goodwin, who paid $250,000 (US) for his ticket in 2005, was the third passenger on the flight alongside two pilots and the company’s astronaut trainer.
About 10 minutes later the rocket landed successfully.
This is the seventh time since 2018 that Virgin Galactic has flown to space and its first time with a ticketholder. About 800 people are currently on the company’s waiting list to make the trip, according to Virgin Galactic.
