The Galactic 04 spaceflight will take off today carrying three passengers, including a Pakistani, Namira Salim.

On Tuesday, Virgin Galactic announced a day’s delay in the space tourism mission to Friday, October 6.

“The slip will give our team an additional day to complete vehicle prep and checks,” they wrote on their X account. “We look forward to taking to the skies (on Friday)!”

Launch update: The #Galactic04 spaceflight will now take place on the second day of our flight window – Friday, October 6 to give our team an additional day to complete vehicle prep and checks. We look forward to taking to the skies in a few days!

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) October 1, 2023

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar congratulated Namira Salim for becoming the first woman from Pakistan to go into space.

“By proving their mettle as trailblazers in multiple fields, Pakistani women are making the whole nation proud,” Kakar had written on his X account, wishing her luck.

Good Luck Namira Salim @namirasalim.
I wish you success when you’re ready to make history on 06 October by becoming the 1st 🇵🇰 woman to travel to space in the #Galactic04
By proving their mettle as trailblazers in multiple fields, 🇵🇰 women are making the whole nation proud

— Anwaar ul Haq Kakar (@anwaar_kakar) October 4, 2023

Namira Salim is a Pakistani polar adventurer and artist based in Monaco and Dubai.

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The other two passengers are British advertising executive Trevor Beattie and Ameri­can astronomy educator Ron Rosano.

Virgin Galactic’s carrier plane VMS Eve will be piloted by Pakistani-Canadian Jameel Janjua alongside Kelly Latimer and CJ Sturckow

Galactic 04

Galactic 04 will take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico, carrying the passengers to suborbital space and back. In simpler words, suborbital flight is a short journey into space where a spaceship goes up but does not stay in space. It leaves the earth’s atmosphere for a brief time and comes back right after. It is a quick trip to experience weightlessness and witness space. Unlike an orbital spaceflight, it does not circle the earth.

Space.com explains that the space tourists will be carried by Virgin’s VSS Unity space plane taken into the sky by a carrier craft named VMS Eve. Eve will drop Unity at an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters); the space plane will then fire up its rocket motor to get to suborbital space.

“VSS Unity passengers get to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see Earth against the blackness of space. A ticket to ride the space plane currently costs $450,000”.