Virgin Galactic Reveals First Civilian Space Tourists: "Mother and Daughter and Parkinson's Patient"

Businessman from the Caribbean and his college daughter
Former British canoeist diagnosed with Parkinson's disease

According to CNN and other U.S. media on the 17th (local time), a mother and daughter from Central America will participate in Virgin Galactic's first private space tourism flight.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Virgin Galactic announced on its website that three passengers will participate in its first private spaceflight, 'Galactic 02,' scheduled for the 10th of next month. Among them are Keisha Shahaf (46), a Caribbean-born entrepreneur and health coach, and her daughter, Anastasia Meyers (18), a university student. They will be the first astronauts from the Caribbean and the first mother-daughter duo to fly together in space.

The mother and daughter won the opportunity to board the spacecraft by participating in an event where donations to the nonprofit organization 'Space for Humanity' allowed entry into a lottery for Virgin Galactic space tourism tickets, beating out over 160,000 competitors. Shahaf said, "When I was two years old, I looked up at the sky wondering how I could get there, but as someone from the Caribbean, I never imagined this would be possible."

The other passenger is John Goodwin (80), a former British canoeist who competed in the Olympics. Goodwin was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2014. He said, "Going to space with Parkinson's is like magic," and added, "I hope to inspire everyone facing adversity." Goodwin purchased his ticket privately. These passengers will be accompanied by Virgin Galactic flight instructor Beth Moses on this space tourism flight.

Virgin Galactic, led by British billionaire Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, has sold spaceflight tourism packages to a limited number of customers since its establishment. Over the past decade, about 800 tickets have been sold. Of these, around 600 seats were priced up to $250,000 (approximately 320 million KRW) each, and about 200 seats were priced at $450,000 (approximately 570 million KRW) each.

On the 29th of last month, Virgin Galactic successfully launched the airship 'Galactic 01,' carrying the Italian Air Force and research teams. The passengers flew to a point 80 km above the Earth's surface, conducted various experiments, and experienced several minutes of weightlessness. The upcoming flight next month will be Virgin Galactic's seventh spaceflight and its second commercial spaceflight.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.