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On August 10, Keisha Schahaff, 46, and her daughter Anastasia Mayers, 18, will become the first female astronauts from Antigua & Barbuda, as well as the first mother-daughter duo in the Caribbean to travel into space.
Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastasia Mayers. Photo: WIC News |
Keisha Schahaff and her daughter will board the Galactic 02 spacecraft from Spaceport America, New Mexico (USA), on the first private space flight with Virgin Galactic astronauts. This is also the second commercial flight into space.
The Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority will host two public screenings on August 10 for the entire country to view the event.
The screening is expected to feature a number of special guests including Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Virgin Galactic space tourism company founder Richard Branson and Jamaican-American astronaut Christopher Huie, who earlier this year became the 19th black astronaut.
Virgin Galactic successfully completed its first commercial flight to the edge of space on June 29. The Galactic 01 flight, which lasted about 75 minutes, came two years after the first fully crewed test flight of the company’s VSS Unity spacecraft. The trip marked a turning point for Virgin Galactic, which has been developing its commercial service for nearly 20 years, often facing obstacles.
Virgin Galactic has sold about 800 tickets for commercial space flights, including 600 tickets priced between $200,000 and $250,000 each and 200 tickets priced at $450,000 each. The company plans to conduct monthly commercial flights after the successful flight of the Galactic 02 spacecraft on August 10.
Virgin Galactic is competing with Blue Origin, the space travel company of billionaire Jeff Bezos.
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