Mother-daughter astronaut duo first from the Caribbean to travel into space

Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastasia Mayers

Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastasia Mayers will become Antigua & Barbuda's first female astronauts, and the first mother-daughter duo in the Caribbean, to travel into space.

The mother and daughter will board the Galactic 02 spacecraft from Spaceport America, New Mexico (USA), on August 10 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 to help people across the country follow the event.

Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority CEO Colin C. James stressed that the space journey of this female astronaut duo will become a source of inspiration for those who dream of exploring the universe, and at the same time a memorable milestone for the people of this Caribbean island nation.

The screening is expected to feature a number of special guests including Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and Jamaican-American astronaut Christopher Huie, who earlier this year became the 19th black astronaut.

Previously, Virgin Galactic successfully conducted the first commercial flight to the edge of space on June 29.

The Galactic 01 flight, which lasted about 75 minutes, comes two years after the company's first fully crewed test flight aboard the VSS Unity.

The trip marks a turning point for Virgin Galactic, which has been developing commercial services for nearly 20 years and has often faced obstacles.

The US space agency and Air Force define an astronaut as anyone who has flown at least 50 miles above Earth. Virgin Galactic's first commercial space flight took passengers to an altitude of 53 miles above the New Mexico desert, but did not orbit the Earth.

Virgin Galactic uses a “mother” plane to take off from a runway, gain altitude, and then rocket the VSS Unity into space at nearly Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) before returning to Earth. Passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness and get a glimpse of the planet’s curvature.

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.

Many movie stars and celebrities were among the first to buy tickets.

However, Virgin Galactic's program encountered problems in 2014 when a spacecraft broke apart in mid-air during a test, injuring the pilot and killing the co-pilot.

Virgin Galactic plans to launch monthly commercial flights after successfully completing a flight on its Galactic 02 spacecraft on August 10. Virgin Galactic is competing with Blue Origin, the space travel company of billionaire Jeff Bezos.

Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft has not launched since September 2022, when it crashed during a crewless research flight.

According to VNA