Enlarge / Anastatia Mayers, Jon Goodwin, and Keisha Schahaff are the private customers on board Galactic 02. (credit: Virgin Galactic) SPACEPORT AMERICA, New Mexico—On Thursday morning, Virgin Galactic plans to fly private citizens into space for the first time. The company's VSS Unity spacecraft is due to be released from its carrier aircraft after 9 am local time (15:00 UTC), and it will then rocket above an altitude of 80 km.