How an Elite Pilot Got a Second Chance at Space Roughly a minute into his ascent to orbit, some 54.4 miles above the blue curve of Earth, astronaut Jameel Janjua snuck a peek out of the spacecraft window. The light up here was different. For the first time ever, he felt like he was really seeing the sky. On Saturday, June 8 at 8:31 a.m., 45-year-old Janjua departed from Spaceport America in New Mexico, piloting a mission to space — for the very first time. It was Virgin Galactic’s 12th spaceflight to date, and its second of the year, a hybrid research and private endeavor in conjunction with Purdue University and UC Berkeley. Traveling with Janjua and the Virgin Galactic VSS Unity Commander Nicola Pecile were Turkish astronaut Tuva Atasever and three private passengers (like other space tourism companies, Virgin Galactic refers to passengers as “astronauts”). For many of them, the trip was the culmination of a lifetime’s worth of work — and wishes. |