Eighty-year-old former Olympian with Parkinson’s disease will be one of three passengers on Virgin Galactic’s first space tourism flight taking off on Thursday.
Jon Goodwin from Newcastle will join Keisha Schahaff (46) and her daughter Anastatia Mayers (18), who is studying physics in Aberdeen, aboard VSS Unity for a 90-minute journey.
The two women will be the first mother and daughter to travel to space after winning a coveted spot in a sweepstakes, while Goodwin secured his seat 18 years ago after purchasing a ticket worth $250,000.
After taking off at 4 PM from New Mexico in the USA, VSS Unity will separate from the mothership VMS Eve and take them into suborbital space, where they will briefly experience weightlessness, looking back at Earth.
The journey will raise funds for the nonprofit group Space for Humanity, which aims to send ordinary citizens to space to provide them with a ‘greater perspective’ on the challenges facing Earth.
The trio will be joined by astronaut instructor Beth Moses.
In June, Virgin Galactic Sir Richard Branson successfully completed its first commercial space flight.
That flight sent Italian astronauts into space to conduct a series of scientific experiments.
The company calls its first private astronaut mission on Thursday Galactic 02.
