Here’s what to know:The mother ship that launches the SpaceShipTwo Unity space plane was originally scheduled to take off at 9 a.m. Eastern time from the runway at Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America facility in New Mexico, but that has been delayed to 10:30 a.m. In addition to Branson, the flight will carry two pilots and three other Virgin Galactic employees. The release of the space plane is expected to take place 30 minutes to an hour after takeoff. Unlike traditional rockets that launch vertically from launchpads, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Unity is tethered to the belly of a mother ship, which carries it to about 45,000 feet. The spaceplane is then released, the pilots fire its engines, and it goes screaming up through the sky until it reaches the edge of space.

Source: Washington Post July 11, 2021 11:51 UTC