Virgin Galactic Announces New Research Flight Contract With Repeat Customer
Second-Time
It will be the second research mission that IIAS has conducted with
“We were thrilled with the results from our fluid cell experiment on ‘Galactic 05’, which demonstrated our ability to accurately predict the behavior of fluid in a container in a weightless environment. We’ll be expanding on that research for our next mission, and I’ll be working to demonstrate our ability to control the behavior of the liquid as well,” said astronaut and IIAS Director of Human Spaceflight Operations Kellie Gerardi. “The quality and repeatability of the microgravity environment provided by Virgin Galactic’s system is truly game-changing and the potential for a ‘fly, fix, fly’ approach opens the door to many exciting possibilities for IIAS to make discoveries that benefit future explorers.”
The IIAS astronaut crew expected to participate in the research mission includes:
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Kellie Gerardi, a bioastronautics researcher and IIAS Director of Human Spaceflight Operations from the
U.S. Gerardi previously flew as a payload specialist on the ‘Galactic 05’ research mission.
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Dr.
Shawna Pandya , a physician, aquanaut, bioastronautics researcher, and Director of IIAS’sSpace Medicine Group , fromCanada .
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Dr.
Norah Patten , an aeronautical engineer and bioastronautics researcher fromIreland .
Full biographies are available here. More information on Virgin Galactic’s research capabilities here.
The mission is designed to enable IIAS to introduce new research while also expanding upon the results from ‘Galactic 05,’ during which astronaut Kellie Gerardi was able to successfully validate a fluid behavior theory within the high-quality microgravity conditions available through Virgin Galactic’s unique flight system. The IIAS crew plans to fly additional fluid cells, with payload enhancements including upgrades to camera quality and accelerometer measurements.
“We’re excited to continue our partnership with IIAS in an expanded capacity,” said
Virgin Galactic’s
About
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding the proposed research mission and the anticipated timing thereof, including the expected astronauts, inflight activities and experiments, and the expectation to validate and expand upon the prior research conducted on Galactic 05, our spaceflight systems, increasing our flight rate, providing repeatable and reliable access to space, the development timeline of the Delta Class spaceships, commencement of commercial service of our Delta fleet and timing thereof, and the estimated number of monthly flights of the Delta Class spaceships are forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “potential,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “strategy,” “future,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “plan,” “target,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, though not all forward-looking statements use these words or expressions. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, any delay in future commercial flights of our spaceflight fleet, our ability to successfully develop and test our Delta fleet and the time and costs associated with doing so, the safety of our spaceflight systems, our expected capital requirements and the availability of additional financing, and the other, risks and uncertainties included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
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